Into That Good Night
by Buddyboy98
Summary: Jake Long was the star of his family and the star of his Grandmother's life. But when she dies, she asks him to go to California and run the family business in her will. Not disrespecting her will, he goes. What will change when he returns 10 Years Later?
1. Prologue

**Title: Into That Good Night **

**Summary: Jake Long was the star of his family and the star of his Grandmother's life. But when she dies, she asks him to go to Los Angeles and run the family business in her will. Not wanting to disrespect her will, he goes leaving everything behind. What happens ten years later when he returns to New York? **

**Authors Note: So here it is! This will probably be my last venture into American Dragon Jake Long after the 'Anything and Everything' series is completed. For those of you that have been following me since the very beginning, this is the plot that got away. I tried it a few years back and it failed. I've done a lot of thinking lately and not only did I decide to leave ADJL within the next year once I finished the last of the 'Anything and Everything' stories, I decided to follow up on the one that got away. I will end my time writing American Dragon Jake Long stories with **_**this**_**, so enjoy. And Review, please. **

* * *

Jake Long was well, _depressed_. He had been absolutely enthralled with his Grandmother for all of his life and now she was gone. Last week she had gone to bed and died peacefully in her sleep, now the family was left with a power vacuum in her wake. There was a question at the funeral between all the members of the family, who was going to succeed her as head of the family company? Whoever it was, they were going to have to change their lives. "Jake, straighten up, I don't want your Aunt thinking things."

That had been the oddest thing that he had ever heard from his mother, she was acting like a snob. From her mother's side, she was indeed supposed to be a snob, technically, she was an heiress. After his Grandmother and Grandfather had split up, she had gone to San Francisco and founded a Television Broadcasting Company, and it had grown to be the third largest in the country behind the major ones. "Mom? It's just a will reading."

Susan Long smiled, albeit tightly, at her son. "Things get a little competitive in my family. There is a reason that you aren't around them all that much."

"It's not like Aunt Sara can do anything about it anyway," Jake persisted as they waited in their Grandmother's Lawyers Office. "But I do need to ask you why Haley and Dad weren't invited to this? They're family too."

Again Susan smiled and laid a hand on her sons shoulder. "It kills me to tell you this honey, but Grandma didn't like your father much and Haley didn't like your Grandmother. So, they didn't want to come to this, sorry about it."

"What? That Haley's jealous because Grandma liked me better? It's kind of petty when you think about it," He said looking back to the entrance of the office where his Aunt Sara and her children where now entering. Susan and Jake didn't look at them, and that same was true for Sara and her Sons and Daughters. He leaned over to his mother. "I think that it just got colder."

Susan hid her snicker behind her hand. "I think that plant just died too."

* * *

Fidgeting in his suit, he looked over to the clock that hung above the door and wondered what was taking the lawyer so long? If his Grandmother was going to give him something than he didn't want to die before he got it. Jake huffed, folded his arms around his chest and leaned back into the chair in a display of annoyance. "Are we supposed to sit here all day and wait for him?"

Susan didn't get a chance to answer as the door behind them opened and in walked a well suited man. His hair was slicked back and he looked generally greasy as all Lawyers Jake saw normally did. "I'm sorry I'm late, I had a little teleconference with the Corporate Board of Directors with your Mother and Grandmother's company. They showed their input of who they thought Ms. Li would want to succeed, I just wanted to let you know that they thought that Mrs. Long here should take up her Mother's duties, but that's not written."

Sara and her children remained silent, but inwardly they were fuming from the Board's decision. However Susan was just smiling, she liked to see her Sister get things taken away from her that she thought where hers. Folding her hands in her lap, her smile widened. "Might I ask who it is?"

"I was just about to get to that ma'am," He smiled as he picked up tan dossier and opened it before flipping through several pages. They were going to get to the smaller things later, but now they were going to take care of who would take up as head of the family company. National and International General Broadcasting or as it was known now, NIGB, the third most powerful Television Broadcasting Company in the world. "Alright, it is so bequeathed that on this day, the Last Will and Testament of Feng Li, be read in the event of her death. She requests that her daughters as well as their Grandchildren attend this reading and this has happened so we will continue."

Susan looked over to Jake and smiled at him before looking back to the lawyer. "_In the matter of National and International General Broadcasting Company, I, Feng Li, being of sound mind and of sound body leave controlling ownership, as well as the title of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer to my Grandson-_…"

All of the people in the room of the male gender blanched, that knocked Susan and Sara out of the running as well as all of the other Granddaughters out of contention, so it left Jake and three others. And as close as he was to his Grandmother, and for the admiration that she had for Jake being the American Dragon, he had a feeling he knew who it would be. "…_J__acob Luke Long, as well as my properties in Los Angeles, Beverley Hills and San Francisco California and all of my personal property, including, my fleet of Limousines, my private Jet Airplane and my Yacht. To the matter of my estate, I do feel that my daughters as well as some of my Grandchildren deserve to be taken care of so, twenty percent of my fortune will divided between my daughters Sara Li-Marshall and Susan Li-Long, the bulk however, will be bequeathed to my most favorite Grandson, Jacob Long, that sum being 682 Million Dollars_."

With that, Jake Long, the American Dragon, fell out of his seat.

* * *

"_Six Hundred Million Dollars_," Jake breathed as he sat in the living room of his family's home holding an icepack to his head. "I can't believe that she left me Six Hundred _Million_ Dollars. Mom? Was Grandma insane, I don't know what to do with that-…"

Susan flattened out her skirt and sighed. "No she wasn't crazy, she just expects you to do that job. Jake I don't have to tell you that your Grandmother was incredibly devoted to her work ethic, she just didn't hand you that mountain of cash for you to blow it."

"I know, oh what am I going to do? I just got out of High School for godsake," He said staring at the coffee table, "Now I get to be a freaking CEO."

"Well Son, look at it this way, you don't have to take care of me or the rest of the family, your Grandmother left us Ninety Million." Susan smiled, enjoying the look of frustration on her Son's face. She knew her son and that face meant that he was focusing on something. Hopefully it was to respect his Grandmother's wishes.

* * *

Rose frowned, Jake was oddly quiet for the date tonight and she was the one who was usually reserved. Leaning over on the bench in Central Park, she grasped his chin and forced him to look at her. "Jake? Are you in a crappy mood because your Grandma died? Because if it is we can just do this another night if you'd like."

"No," He sighed. "It's what my Grandmother left me, and what's going to happen."

Readjusting herself, she crossed her legs and put a puzzled expression on her face. It was fake of course, she had some news of her own that she wanted to share with him and she wanted to know if this news would benefit the gift that they were about to receive. "My Grandmother left me most of her money and her company."

"Your Grandmother has a company," Rose snorted with a look of skepticism, he'd never had mentioned this before. "What do they do? Sell popcorn shrimp?"

Jake smirked weakly and leaned forward to bury his head in his face, that sarcasm would come back to bite his Girlfriend in the ass one day. "No, you ever watch channels 5, 31, 32, 44, 69 and 143?"

"Uh yeah?" Rose nodded not sure what Jake was really getting onto.

"Well, do you know that my Grandmother owned those channels and the network that broadcasts on them?" Jake asked letting the quiet air fill in the rest of the question.

That meant one thing, either Jake was on something, or her boyfriend and father of her soon to be child was a very rich man. "Jake? Is there something I should know?"

"Yes," He nodded looking at the pavement of the walk way. "My Grandmother left me her Company NIGB, to run it and own it, not to mention most of her fortune."

Rose was shaking now. Her nervous system had just gone through a massive shock at his retort. Reaching forward, she wrapped herself around his torso and buried and face in his chest. "And how much money was that exactly?"

"…682 Million Dollars, her cars, her mansions and her plane as well." Jake said stoically.

Jumping up, she raised her hands above her head and proceeded to jump up and down with elated joy. Oh she was so happy, so her baby would have a great life, more of a life than he or she could have in the Huntsclan. "Oh My God, you made my day. So when do you start?"

"On Monday, but-…" He stopped when she started jumping again, and he let an involuntary laugh come across his lips with amusement.

Stopping, she put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "What else could you possibly have to say that could make this day any better than it already is?"

"…It's in California." He said, stopping when her face fell.

Rose started shaking again. She knew what it was for this time. She could not possibly go to California, she was the Huntsgirl and heir to the Huntsman himself, and she couldn't go AWOL. And she was pregnant with his baby. He had succeeded in officially making this the most bittersweet night of her life. "California, the west coast?"

Jake nodded, clasping his hand together.

"Jake, if you have to go, I need you to know something-…" Rose stopped when he put his hand up _to_ stop her. He didn't want to have to go through losing Rose again like he had in Middle School, and the strangest thing was his Grandmother was forcing him to lose Rose because she knew he'd respect her wishes.

"I don't want to hear it Rose," He stood up, wanting to get this over with quickly. "I'm sorry that I'm leaving you but I have to do this. I owe it to my Grandmother."

"I understand that Jake, what I'm trying to tell you is-…" She was interrupted again.

He had leaned down and kissed her lightly on the cheek, and then turned on his heel and left her sitting there. Rose was stunned, she would have gotten up and chased after him if he hadn't caught off guard like that. It wasn't like Jake to just get up and leave without letting her_ freaking_ talk, and before she knew it, she was alone. Alone with the fetus of a man who wouldn't even let her tell him that she had it, the night had gone from bittersweet to perhaps the worst in her life.

She wrapped her arms around her stomach and the life she was now growing inside of her and walked away in the other direction. All the way she was bawling.

* * *

"Mr. Long?" His driver asked as they arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The entire morning had been a dream, he had said goodbye to his Sister, Mother and Father and taken a Limousine to the airport. It was one of the typical foggy days on Long Island and it perfectly matched Jake's mood, but when he saw the Gulf Stream Jet Plane, his jaw dropped. So everything that was here was his. He _owned_ this, not to mention the massive fortune under his name. "Thank you, I can get the bags."

"No sir," The driver smiled. "That's what I'm paid to do, you get in the plane."

Jake nodded, but he stood there for a moment, leaning on the edge of the leather lined seat of his Grandmother's Limousine. He had given up Rose, his life as the American Dragon and his family. And it was going to be replaced with an existence of excess, cars, mansions, parties and money. It was every teenager's fantasy, but it had been a long time since Jake had been a carefree teen. And even this life wouldn't be carefree. He'd have to run a company which he knew nothing about, he'd have to trust people that would want to take him down, and Jake couldn't think of anything he'd want spend his life doing. At last his lip curled into a smile, and he got up.

And got on the Plane, never to look back.


	2. Chapter 1 –  Huntsmistress And Her Child

**Chapter 1 – A Huntsmistress and her child**

**Manhattan New York**

"Huntsmistress," A terse voice called into the darkened room.

Shooting open her eyes at the sound of one of her many titles, Rose turned her head towards the entrance of her chamber and spied the assistant with an icy glare. She had little doubt what this was for, she had instructed her assistant to not disturb her and it was an unspoken order that the man could only disturb her when it pertained to one thing, her son. He had too much of his father in him for his own good and it was seriously affecting her image with in the Huntsclan. Don't get her wrong, she loved him, but sometimes when she looked at him she saw Jake. "What has he done this time?"

"He blew up the science lab with a Grenade," He answered with a clipped undertone of amusement. "The Headmaster of the Academy wants you up there to reprimand him yourself. And frankly Master, I would agree."

Blowing out a breath, Rose pushed herself up off of the ground and brushed some imaginary dust off of her shoulder. She didn't know what she was going to do with the kid, perhaps she could send him to Jake's mother, she had been aware of his existence of a long time. Susan had voiced her objections -hell she didn't voice them, she shouted them at her- to her Grandson joining the Huntsclan, but Rose had silenced her on that. To do that, she only had to mention what Jake had done to her that night in Central Park and she'd surrendered. "I want you to get the Transporter ready, and inform the Headmaster that I will be reviewing the school when I arrive. And he is not to even sound condescending in a message or I will cut his head off and find someone else who respects my station, understood?"

"Yes Ma'am," He responded, snickering under his mask.

Rose couldn't help but letting a corner of her lips lift into a warm smile, she promised herself when she took the reins from her Uncle seven years prior that she'd be a touch nicer, but not that nice. The only person that she was nice too more than half of the time was her son Trevor. Trevor Long, she had considered not giving her son his father's last name when she had given birth to him, but on the spot she had decided to do it. "What am I going to do with him? I mean he's not going to stop until he destroys the place."

"He is your child Master," The man spoke, realizing that he was speaking rather boldly to the Huntsmistress, "With all due respect of course ma'am."

"You do have a point." Rose snickered dryly as they walked out of the private chambers. They were in Manhattan, in the Huntslair that she had been trained in and practically raised in. She did have her hesitations about staying in this city, with the fact that her son's Aunt was the American Dragon and she was the Huntsmistress and her son was the Huntsboy. If anyone knew the truth, Rose didn't know if they would be more shocked, angry or amused at the arrangement

They were bound to run into each other, they hadn't simply for the reasons that she had kept Trevor up state in the Academy most of the time and she didn't do field assignments that much anymore. That was one of the more drastic changes that had taken place when she had taken over the Huntsclan and she had taken flack for it. But those people were dead either by her hand or her order, and she was now the unquestioned master.

When Rose arrived in her private quarters, the bank of fluorescent lights switched on with a hiss. No one was allowed in her besides her son, this was her sanctuary, the place that she could sink into her memories of what life was like before Jake. When she didn't have a child to take care of and nurture, when she was just working for her Uncle, before she had met the clumsy skateboarding boy that stole her affection and had turned out to be a sworn enemy. An enemy that she grudgingly admitted grew on you in time.

Stealing to the bathroom of her spacious quarters, she sighed and looked up into the mirror of the bathroom. She was wearing her mask, the mask that had kept so many people out of her mind, it may have been a simple piece of cloth, but to Rose it was much more of that. It kept the constant look of sadness out of her eyes. She didn't wear it out of her own will. It was more of a thing that had stayed in her face for a decade and it was always noticed when she slipped the mask off. "Damnit, if you could only know how your insane little son tends to muck up my life Jake, he truly is your offspring."

Shaking her head clear of the smiling face of the man that she had once loved, she stalked out of the bathroom. Whenever she thought of Jake, all of the good times, all of the times that she would gladly give her left arm to experience again, were shadowed out by the sight of him walking out on her in Central Park. Rose being as dignified as possible had held no bitterness or ill will towards him. She had only wished that he had given her a chance to tell him that she was pregnant with his child. And even if she had wished and cursed every day that he was alive, it wouldn't have done any good.

Rose hadn't lived under a rock for ten years, she did have a television and she did read the newspaper. She knew that Jake had made a name for himself. The nation's financial bigwigs had named him CEO of the Year, and the tenth richest man in the world. Hell, her cable was through Jake's company which was amusing to her for some unknown reason. It was clear that she would never forget him, even if she had made an effort to do it, her Son and the media in general would never let her. But it didn't matter anyway. They were never going to run into each other ever again anyway.

* * *

"You destroyed the chemistry stores," Headmaster Bailey of the Huntsclan academy hissed at the three sheepish looking youths, "The only reason –and it is the only reason- I haven't sent you into the pit to battle the kraken is because the Huntsmistress would be most displeased with me."

To the far right of the trio of uniformed, masked males was the smallest one, through the mask, his blue eyes stood out in contrast to the dark grey uniform and those eyes made him the most feared of the group. It wasn't that he held an advantage to his two friends, it was that there was only one person in the Clan who had those eyes and that person was the Huntsmistress, and his mother. "_Huntsboy_! What do you have to say?"

"Nothing sir," said Trevor Long, or as they knew him, the Huntsboy.

Bailey sneered. He knew that if the boy wasn't the son of the Huntsmistress than he would be able to be whipped in shape. But his mother protected him with all the viciousness of a hunt and he would be absolutely foolish to do anything. It was up to her good graces to punish her child, but he had the right to discipline the other two. "Hunters Bayhan, Stone. You will report to the Kraken pit at Midnight tonight, and you will spend an hour in an attempt to kill it. Afterword's you will stay into detention until seven o'clock."

Both of the boys let out groans, but they dutifully nodded and turned on their heels to depart the room. Trevor didn't feel any sort of pity for them. In fact he was smirking under the protection of his mask at their slumped shoulders. Sure they were friends, but in the Huntsclan it was kill or be killed and he would be damned if he was going to take a bullet, or in this case a kraken for them. "Huntsboy, you are very, very lucky of your parentage."

"I'd watch my tone if I were you Headmaster," Trevor gloated, feeling very lucky of who his mother was, "Because my parentage could sack you."

Bailey snorted. "I highly doubt that."

"Oh, _never_ doubt anything Headmaster." _Her _voice said from the entrance of the room, and the Huntsboy and the Headmaster both turned to face her.

She stood there, her figure shadowed by an overhanging arch that adorned the entrance of the office. Even surrounded by darkness, the Huntsmistress was a strikingly beautiful woman. She wore her mask off, causing her golden locks to flow down her shoulders, and as she stepped forward into the light, she had an amused glint in her blue depths at the sight of her indignant Son.

"Huntsboy?" The Huntsmistress asked looking to her son.

Bailey could almost feel the smirk that the boy wore and it made him want to strangle the kid. "Master, I do apologize for my shenanigans, I was just-…"

"I know what you and your friends were doing Huntsboy," Rose said with a light smile, "I ran into them outside. You won't be joining the Kraken tonight though. I have a special punishment for you. But run a long, I have a few things that I need to say to the Headmaster. I hope you don't mind."

Inwardly, Trevor cringed. His mother was a piece of work when it came to discipline but he had a feeling that his mother wouldn't be too hard on him when he saw the look in her face. "Right Mom eh-…Huntsmistress…"

Rose winked at him and patted him on the shoulder before lightly pushing him in the direction of the door. When she heard the door slam shut behind him, she took a deep breath in and turned to the Headmaster with a terrifying sneer. "Now Headmaster, what am I going to do about you foolish hostility and bad intentions towards my son?"

* * *

**AN:/ I wanted to give you a peak on Rose's life, next is Jake. And for those of you who wanted Jake and Rose to meet in the next chapter. Don't hold your breath. It'll be more than likely the third or fourth. One thing that I observed in making Rose the Huntsmistress, you don't see that very often in ADJL stories. Just sayin' anyway, please leave me a review. They keep me going. **


	3. Chapter 2 – Mr Jacob Long

**Chapter 2 – Mr. Jacob Long**

John F. Kennedy International Airport was being swarmed with photographers, all in the hopes of catching a glimpse of one of the most successful Chief Executive Officers of the decade. It was a common fact that Jacob Long head of NIGB and founder of five other multi-billion dollar companies was coming into town for that week. The purpose had managed to stay secret, and it would only be revealed until the event actually occurred. And Jacob had arranged it so that the whole business world would be able to see it. He had used all his cunning to accomplish it.

A part of him wondered how he could have learned all of this in just ten years. He had been so free, so caring and so nice before. But as soon as he had gone to California and assumed control of his Grandmother's company, he had begun his descent. In his first two years, he had surrounded himself with the most cunning, ruthless and downright greedy people in the Corporate World. In the three years after that he had fired all of them and perfected everything that they had taught him. And for the last five years he had gone to town on his competitors and taken NIGB to the very top of the Broadcasting world, "Mr. Long?"

Jake looked up at his assistant, Margret Clare. She had been with him since the very beginning, he had hired her when had first come to California. She had been with him through takeovers, buyouts and many other things. At one point, he and she had even divulged in a relationship that had lasted for three years, it was nice, and they literally had spent every waking moment with each other. It had gotten too suffocating, so they had resigned themselves to being friends. But every now and then, they still …consummated their friendship. "Is everything ready?"

"The hotel suite at the Astoria has been booked for the week. I have a chartered limousine for the whole week," Margret said looking down her legal pad that she had been taking notes on, "You have a meeting with the people at the NASDAQ tomorrow morning at nine, an appearance on CNBC at ten. Besides that the whole day is free tomorrow, you know I have never seen the statue of liberty?"

The Airport luggage carriers were loading them in the waiting limo outside and frankly he was hoping that they would take their time. He was hesitant to come to New York. He hadn't been back here in ten years and that was hard to even believe himself but it was true. Whenever someone with the company needed to come out to the East Coast Division, he had sent his right hand man, his CFO Maxwell Stoops. But he needed to arrange the initial public offering of his new company onto the stock market himself, so he had to come himself. But what was making him nervous was the fact that every news camera in the Tri State Area was out there, and he was fairly sure that his mother, father and sister had television.

They would know that he was there, if not today then surely within the next twenty four hours. What would they do? Would they break into his hotel room and beat the hell out of him? And there was another person on the edge of his thoughts, someone who could do it more easily, a certain blonde haired blue eyed Huntress who could charm any hotel worker to open any room. His ex-girlfriend and part time enemy, Rose "Is that so Maggie?"

"I mean I've seen it on Television and pictures but never in person," She said lightly, she knew that he was in thought and she didn't want to disturb him by confronting him on it. In their time together, she had learned a lot about him and she knew that New York had played a role in his past that he didn't want to talk about. But one of these days it was really going to be a pain in this ass and it would affect the way he worked. He'd have to open up though.

Jake turned to her and offered her an obviously forced smile, "You want to go to it?"

"I wanted to go to it myself actually," She retorted with a bit of a coy smirk.

He laughed and reached up to throw and arm around her shoulder, "So, if you want to go to the Statue of Liberty, you have to stand in a tourist steam bath for four hours to board some rickety old ferry boat. Unless you can fly, you'll have to go through that to do it."

Jake actually bit back a snicker at his own words, goodness if she only knew the truth.

* * *

The back of the stretch limousine was illuminated by the flashes of cameras and the solid looking lights of television cameras. With the windows tinted it cast a strange lightning effect in the back of the car. Jake clutched at his cell phone nervously, since he had disembarked off of the plane, he had been contemplating doing it. Calling his mother would be a big step for him and he was sure to get an earful from her, if not the cold shoulder. Jake wasn't sure if he wanted to go through that, after all he had an early meeting and TV appearance and it wouldn't do him well to go to all of them emotional vulnerable.

He knew his mother's number by heart and he was sure that she hadn't changed it, even in a decade longer. Taking in a deep breath, he dialed the number. He knew that he shouldn't have, he knew that he should just ignore everything that had to do with his family and get on with business as usual. But no, there was something in him that needed to talk to his mother.

Holding it up to his ear, his breath caught, and a fraction of a second later, a voice answered. It was the calm, soothing voice of Mrs. Susan Long, "Hello?"


	4. Chapter 3 – Mommy Dearest

_**Chapter 3 – Mommy Dearest**_

Limousines were a common thing to see on the streets of New York City, but I was not common to see a man having a practical stroke in the back. He had hung up on his mother, which was not something that he had ever done even when he did live here. Jake felt enumerable guilt by hanging up on her but he hadn't worked the nerve up to talk to her. He knew that by the time he would need to go back to California they would speak, but that time wasn't now and he didn't really desire it right now. But when he had given the order for his driver to go to his parent's townhouse, he found himself almost seizing.

"Sir," Margret asked from the seat next to him, "Are you going to be alright, going to your parents?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine," Jake said wiping his forehead off on the sleeve of his coat.

Jake had to get his mind off of what was about to happen and the only way that he found he could do that was thinking about work. It seemed in his sleep he always thinking about stock tips and budget reports to distract him from his dreams of fighting the Huntsclan and flying. More recently he had to deal with a transfer of over five billion dollars into the international branch of NIGB and he had been dealing the paperwork to transfer assets for days now. Leaning down, his hand dropped into his bag and grabbed a tan dossier that contained the papers, "Sometime tomorrow I need you to make copies of these papers and take them to Chase Bank and drop them off at the NASDAQ to secure funds."

"For what? And where do you want these funds transferred too?" Margret asked as she took the file from him and stashed it under the legal pad that she had been taking notes on.

"Europe and parts of the Asian Market, the cash is to boost the International branch," He answered.

"Ok," She said stopping suddenly when the limousine stopped, "It looks like we're here."

Jake looked out the window and the breath was choked out of him. There was the house, it hadn't changed in ten years and Jake felt memories rush back to him and hit him in the face like it was a wall. Wiping his forehead again, he turned to Margret and nodded, "Yeah, you go on to the Astoria, I might be here a little while and there's no use in you having to hear what's about to go down."

"How you are going to get back sir?" She asked putting a lose strand of hair behind her ear.

That was the fun part for him. It had been a very long time since he had gotten the chance to fly. He would go back to his hotel with those powers of his, "I'll take a cab, look if you could just get going."

She nodded and took a deep breath in, Mr. Long tended to get emotional sometimes when it came to issues of his personal life. He didn't have any pictures of his family, he had only a few pictures of social events with friends and it was clear that he had married his work. That was until they had their little fling, well it wasn't exactly little, but it had changed the way Margret looked at him. She knew him in and out and knew what his faults were as he did with her. That's why she didn't fight him on anything when it came to his personal life, "Driver, go ahead and go to the Astoria Towers."

* * *

The air was frigid and then Jake knew that he had spoiled himself on California weather, but then again the last time he was in this city he wasn't worth $25 Billion Dollars and the head of several billion dollar corporations. It was just hitting him that he was standing at his parent's door. He half expected his sister Haley to answer the door. But she was probably out in medical school or something becoming a doctor or a lawyer like everyone had expected her too. Jake however felt smug about this subject, whatever his sister was she'd never make enough money to top him in her lifetime.

Reaching forward with a shaky hand, he tapped the doorbell again and again knowing that he'd never tap it if he didn't force himself to do it. Then taking his hand back, he crossed both of them over his stomach in some attempt to quell his shaking. His acute hearing was focused on the door, he might not have transformed into a full dragon in years, but he still used his powers every now and then. At board meetings he used his sense of hearing, when he woke up at home in the middle of the night he used his ability to see in the dark. But now he was using his hearing to focus it through the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming hold on just a bit," He smiled when he heard his mother's voice.

His breath caught in his chest when he saw the head of dark hair appear in the door and then he forced himself to put on an overconfident smile when the door opened. Her fact hadn't changed much in the ten years since he had seen it, it had aged slightly and there was now a gray steak running through her hair, but she was still Susan Long, his mother. He was him finally. When their eyes meet from across the doorway, he smirked coyly at her, "Surprise, Surprise Mom."

Susan for her part was at a loss for words. Her eyes were twinkling with something between amusement, joy, surprise and a touch of anger. Jake took a chance on leaping over the awkward hurtle and he proceeded to open his arms and invite the woman who gave birth to him in for an embrace that they hadn't shared for a total decade, "Jake …Oh my god… Is it really …you?"

"In the flesh," He walked forward and wrapped his arms around his mother, "How are you?"

Finally regaining some of her senses, she returned her sons embrace tightly and laughed in elated joy at the sight of her little boy, but then she pulled back and lightly punched him in the shoulder, "That's for ten years without a damn phone call or a card. And I'm doing great. I know how you've done."

He felt his face flush at his mother's praise, "So I take it you've heard of my accomplishments."

"Mr. Billionaire Tycoon of course I have," Susan smiled reaching up and cupping his cheek, "Wh-Why don't you come inside and sit down for awhile, your father is out of town and I'm all alone."

Jake nodded and swallowed the lump that was in his throat at the thought of entering his childhood home once again, but when he was inside, it was completely different. He assumed that the house had been long renovated and it was nice work, he admitted that to his mother. Walking in step into the den area, he followed his mother's beckoning motion to the couch. Jake was incredibly stunned that this was going as easily as it was, he expected his mother to do more than just punch his arm, "You know Mom I really expected you to be a little more pissed at me."

"How can I be angry with you," Susan shrugged as she ran a hand through her shoulder length hair, "I mean sure I haven't heard hell or high water from you in a decade but still you're my son and I love you. Haley loves you and your father loves you, and I know that for sure."

He smiled at her, "Do you think I could have a glass of tea or water?"

"Sure son," Susan said patting him on the knee, "For some reason I had the inclination to make some earlier, do you still like it loaded with sugar?"

Smiling at her as she got up from the couch, he shook his head, "I'm afraid I can't. I have a meeting at the NASDAQ and I get to be in the opening bell ceremony tomorrow morning."

"I'm so proud of you," Susan reflected again as she made her way into the kitchen.

Jake smiled and leaned back into the couch, well, perhaps this would work out for the best. He had made it this far, into his mother's house and without so much as a scratch, unless you count his bruised shoulder. He would stay for a little while and then go to the hotel room to catch up on tomorrow's events and get some sleep. Turning his head, he looked at large picture frame on the side table. Normally he would have just ignored it, but in this case he did a double take.

In the photo was his father, sister, mother and strangely enough a small looking child, black hair, round face and blue eyes. But what made him double take at the photo was the sight of the person standing over the boy. With blond flowing tresses flowing to around her waist and a bright smile plastered on her face, it was Rose. He would know that face from anywhere.

But the question was, what was Rose doing a family photo and who in the hell was that boy?

"Mom," He said reaching forward and grabbing the picture frame, "What the hell is this?"


	5. Chapter 4 – Deadbeat Father

**Chapter 4 – Deadbeat Father**

When his mother had returned from the kitchen, Jake didn't even look up from the picture. It was very odd to see Rose in a photo with his family, but the kid that she was fawning over, Jake could have sworn that he had seen the boy's face before. He was guessing that Rose had mothered the child by the color of his eyes alone. Reaching over to the small table, he picked the picture frame up and held it closer to his eyes. He had seen the face before! It was because it was his face when he was that age. The kid, who looked very similar to him, was in a family photo. Rose was standing over him. Jake had become a very shrewd man in ten years and he had developed the mind of a Corporate Titian, it didn't take long for him to come to a conclusion. However, Jake needed to hear this straight from his mother's mouth, "Mom? I'm going to ask you again, who is this kid? I'm starting to get an idea but I really don't want to jump to conclusions right now."

"Jake," Susan suddenly frowned and took a seat in the love seat to the right of the couch, "I don't really know how to tell this to you gently, but …geeze… Jake, he's your-…"

"He's my son isn't he?" Jake asked quietly with a blank expression, he was now rubbing his eyes to see if he was dreaming.

Susan nodded slowly and looked down into her lap.

Oh lord, how did this happen? If he had known about this kid then he would have _at least_ sent him cards on his birthday or something. But he didn't, he didn't even know that Rose had been pregnant, he had so many questions and he didn't even know where to begin. This was strange. He knew that if he came back to this city, bad things would happen. If he looked at this with foresight, it might not have been a bad thing, but it certainly wasn't going to do well with his emotional state. Jake was not a deadbeat, he paid back his loans, he went through with his promises, and he paid his dues. If he had a kid, then that severely set his ability to be an honorable man back. He had one thing to do and he had a feeling that it would be painful, "What's his name?"

"Trevor Long," Susan smiled slightly, "Rose didn't want to give him our name, but she relented in the end. He's a good kid, nice, smart, brave, and tough. He's only ten for godsake. Rose brings him over here every now and then to see us, he knows about us and he knows about you. Make's straight A's, but he's a lot like you in the sense that he's mischievous. There's also something else."

Even though he had never met this kid, his son, he felt an immense sense of pride welling within him. That one thing that he had to do was now looming in his mind. He had to get into contact with Rose and Trevor and there was only one way to do that. He had to make himself known in this city once again, and he knew that the Huntsclan would come for him then. Jake had another problem though. He had been out of the loop for ten years. Looking over to his mother, he noticed that her eyes were watering slightly. Growing concerned, Jake leaned forward and put his hand on his mother's knee, "Mom? Why are you crying? I mean I know that this makes me look like a deadbeat, but I am not a deadbeat. I didn't even know about this, I promise that I'll make this right."

"I know you will Jake," Susan smiled, "But I'm crying over the fact that Trevor probably won't be too kind to you when he sees you and there's a reason for that."

Jake snorted and looked down to the photo again, he smiled at the sight of the ever beautiful Rose who had her arms wrapped around their smiling child, "What, is he the Huntsboy or something?"

When his mother didn't say a word, Jake froze at the silence. Looking up, the expression of blank surprise was on his face didn't leave him, "…Mom…please tell me that he's human or a Dragon."

"Mom," Jake persisted, setting the picture frame back into place.

"Jake," Susan sighed looking up to him, "He has the Mark of the Huntsclan, and Rose took him as the Huntsboy as soon as he could walk and talk."

His ears perked back, and his eyebrows rose into his hairline, "Excuse me? Did you just say that Rose _took_ him as the _Huntsboy_?"

"Yeah," She nodded again with a breathless sigh, "That's the thing that I'm worried about the most, you see. A few years ago, the Huntsman died, and Rose took his place as the _Huntsmistress_."

With that now in his mind, Jacob Luke Long, CEO of NIGB and one of the richest men in the world, passed out.

* * *

"Damnit Trevor," Rose sighed as they entered her personal chambers in the New York City Huntslair, "I'm not mad at the fact that you blew up a lab, in fact it's kind of funny. I'm not mad that I just had the Headmaster of the Academy killed. I'm mad because you seem to have the idea that I'm going to allow you to get away with anything that you want. I love you son, I love you more than anything. But I am the Huntsmistress and I do have to keep my reputation as the Master of this organization. Do you understand this baby? Can I count on you to hold up my reputation?"

Trevor beamed at his mother and grinned from ear to ear. He loved the idea that his mother was indeed the Master of the Huntsclan, and he didn't want to be the reason that she couldn't be that anymore. He smiled continued to grin and nodded enthusiastically, "Of course you can Mom! I just got bored and I needed something to entertain me. I thought it would be funny, and you agree!"

"It was funny," Rose smiled and ruffled her son's hair, much to his annoyance, "Alrighty, go get ready for bed, I'll come tuck you in and you know what, you've earned yourself a little break from the Academy, why don't you stay down here in the city with me for a few days? Take a vacation? Maybe we'll get to see your Grandmother, I know she's been dying to see you, how about that?"

Again Trevor nodded. It made Rose happy that he didn't resent the Longs. In fact he loved them, he probably like his father too if he met him, but that day was in the future and Rose didn't know what she would do if Jake made his way back into their lives again. Watching Trevor depart into the bathroom, Rose smiled to herself and turned to the modest looking Television that sat on a stand at the far end of her quarters. Really, it was odd to see one of those in the Huntslair, but she grew up in the generation that loved Television and being the Huntsmistress didn't sway her from her love for it. Picking up the remote, she aimed it at the television and pressed the power button. The news, mildly informative and not boring, that's what she decided to watch while she changed.

"In other news," The primp looking anchor of the evening local news said, "Our cameras were at JFK International Airport to see the arrival of the CEO of National and International General Broadcasting as he arrived for the week for the initial public offering of his newest company, _Publishing Max_, Mr. Jacob Long will be present in tomorrow's opening bell ceremony on the NASDAQ Floor."

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, "Son of bitch."


	6. Chapter 5 – The Next Morning Part I

**Chapter 5 – The Next Morning Part I**

He felt dizzy the moment his eyes opened, and he could hardly believe the dream that he had just had. There was nothing like dreaming that he was with his mother last night and learned that he had a kid that he never knew about. But as the seconds passed, he realized that it wasn't a dream, he did have a son! Shooting up, Jake actually groaned. Oh this was just getting _too_ complicated by the moment. Looking around at his surroundings, his eyes widened in shock, he wasn't at the Waldorf Astoria. He was at his mothers.

Letting out a fearful scream, he rose up and looked outside the large window of the living room. The dawn was breaking, and that meant he still had time to get all of his shit ready for his meeting at the NASDAQ. You had to realize that the meeting was very important, very, very, very important and he couldn't miss it. He could afford to miss the television appearances, but this was one that he had to be at. Running his hand through his hair, he reached into the pocket of his pants and withdrew his blackberry.

Margret had called him about twenty times and the latest call was about fifteen minutes ago. Oh thank the lord that it was only 6:49 in the morning, he still had time to get back to the hotel room, take a shower, change his clothes and get his papers in order. Running his right hand through his hair, he quickly pressed the call back button and held it up to his ear. He knew how Margret got when his schedule wasn't strictly adhered too, she'd be pissed, however she was his employee and he was in no mood right now.

"Yeah," Jake yelled into the phone, "Yeah, I slept at my mothers, I passed out, and I'm sorry Maggie. Just send the Limousine and we can get ready."

Indeed Margret sounded mad, but Jake was tolerating it better than he thought he would, "Didn't you listen to my voicemail? The NASDAQ moved the meeting back to ten. I've had to rearrange your TV appearances."

"The opening bell?" Jake asked, concerned about the reasons.

"Still on, but here's the thing," Margret sighed, "The officials want you to present a PowerPoint on the new company to some high stake investors."

Jake sighed and looked back out at the street, "Then I get to do the bell?"

"Yes," She sighed, she sounded as if she was rifling through papers, "It should be easy to follow, I've had some people in the local R&D drawing it up all night. I've seen it and it's easy to follow, it'll be there when we get-…"

Jake shook his head, "Speaking of which, I need send out a press release that I'll be staying here for a little while longer, in fact I want you to push back everything I have for the next two days and redistribute them."

"Why?" She questioned, sounding outraged by the arduous task.

"Because I have some personal issues that have just sprung up and I need to deal with them and frankly the new company is jack shit compared to this one," Jake answered, his tone rising and his tone was filling with a warning.

On the other end, Margret was rolling her eyes. Yes, she cared for Jake and yes she wanted only to make his life more comfortable. But she had a job to do and little petty things like what he was alluding to made that very difficult to accomplish. She and arranged a media blitz for the next forty-eight hours and it would take a long time on the phone to re arrange it. She had been up for hours already trying to re-arrange his plans, "You need to tell me what it is sir! I need to have some motivation and you're not making it any easier!"

Jake yelled again, which surprised Margret. In the decade that she had known him, he almost never did that unless the stress was really piling on top of him and now she was genuinely curious, "_Oh_, my mother got new carpeting in her house and I have to stay here and admire it. Not to mention the fact that I have a ten year old son that I've never met and I have a certain ex-girlfriend that I have to make it up too! But you know that, it's the petty crap of life!"

Margret would have dropped the phone if her body hadn't frozen while she had a tight grip on it, "_What_?"

"You heard me," Jake spat again into the phone, "Now I'll deal with everything today, but I will be damned if I put this off any longer! Now you just send the car over to my mother's house. Pick me up! We'll get ready! I'll go to the NASDAQ and sell my ass off to these people, but you will re-arrange my schedule and extend my stay or, not to sound cliché, HEADS WILL ROLL!"

"Yes sir," Margret said in a quieter tone, she completely understood, "It'll happen, but I'll need to stay here and re-arrange the schedule. So you'll have to do the NASDAQ without me, do you think you can manage that Jake?"

He snorted sarcastically, "I think that I can, alright, I'll see you in a bit."

"Okay," Margret said, "Bye sir."

"Bye Maggie," Jake said and hung up the phone.

Sighing, he slipped the blackberry back into his pocket and looked around the room. He'd leave his number with his mom and come back tonight if he could possibly manage it. But first he had to deal with a $50 _Billion_ Dollar Public Opening and the fact that he had a child with a _very_ likely pissed off ex-girlfriend who just happened to be the head of the Huntsclan.

Today was going to be a bad day, with a capital SUCK, he could feel it.

* * *

"Did you manage to break in their system and insert me like I asked," Rose asked as she tied her hair back into a tight bun for a conservative investor look, "It really won't look good when I'm arrested for posing as Billionaire."

Her aide nodded and handed her the last piece of her outfit. It was a pair of very sleek looking black high heels. She would need them. Today, she was going on her first field assignment in months. But it was more of a personal one for her. Today, she would be going down town to the New York Stock Exchange Complex and it wasn't for investments. No, she had front row tickets for a PowerPoint Presentation for the lovely new investment opportunity known as Publishing Max. On her internal side it wasn't for the company, she couldn't give half a damn, it was for the presenter.

When she had learned of Jake's return to New York last night, she immediately had told her technicians to hack into the NASDAQ computers and monitor the schedule. She would strike Jake first, not the other way around, she simply was going to tell him things that she had waited an entire decade to say, yell at him a little and leave. At first she had planned on dressing up like a reporter and blending in with the press. But when she was informed of the schedule change and the chance for the small presentation, she quickly changed her mind. It was all set to work like clockwork and she knew it would happen, "Can you take Trevor to his Grandmother's when I leave?"

"Sure," The aide nodded, "The usual arrangement with Susan?"

Rose smiled and nodded before she added the cherry on top. A pair of thick frame black glasses. She was going to make it hard for Jake to spot her and she intended on taking him by surprise. With a smirk, she flicked her hair.

"How do I look?" She asked the aide smugly while looking at herself.

"You've got that sexy, business woman thing going on for you," The aide smiled, this aide was a woman, and boy did she know how to kiss ass, "Why did you want to learn about this company anyway, interested in finance?"

Rose turned to the aide and put on a mischievous smile that didn't reach her eyes. This wasn't a subject that she was comfortable even _alluding_ too. She wasn't angry enough to kill Jake. But she was angry, she was angry that he had virtually abandoned her, she was angry that he had made her feel emotions like sadness, and depression. She cried for years about it and she was depressed for virtually half of her pregnancy. But she'd get those emotions out today and somehow, she now grew comfortable with it.

"Call it settling _old debts_," Rose smiled and spun on her heels towards the door.

* * *

**Authors Note: Two in two days! Wow, I've hit some spark of inspiration with this and that's a good thing for those of you who like this story I suppose! Anyway, leave a review for me**


	7. Chapter 6 – The Next Morning Part II

**Chapter 6 – The Next Morning Part II**

Jake was furious, more at his own self than anything, but it didn't help with all the pressure that he was on. In the ride over to the Stock Exchange Complex, he had to review and memorize all of the things that he would bring up during his improvised PowerPoint presentation. He would have to sell it. He would have to convince these investors to invest sums of money into his company. Jake didn't really need their money, he had it covered with funds from NIGB, but if he was able to get large sums of money off of these people, it would take a lot of pressure off of the company.

National and International General Broadcasting Company wasn't in financial troubles as other companies were, it was churning out a profit of $1.5 Billion dollars a year. Not to mention the income that came from the side companies, which totaled to a little over $500 Million. But if he were to get a stable flow of money that didn't come from NIGB or any of its subsidiaries, his day would become a lot better. They were in the Limousine stuck in traffic. Jake had taken the time to review the profiles of the people that would be attending his presentation. They were all your typical rich people. They were members of boards of directors. They themselves were CEOs, some of them where just rich people that had their money from their families, "Alright, so with Mr. Barta, I complement him on how his bank is doing?"

Maggie's appointed replacement, a young man named John Yates, whom Jake had only meet maybe three times in the boy's career nodded approvingly, "You need to be oblivious to the fact that his family bank is technically tanking …"

"Oh lord," Jake chuckled and picked up the photo of the stuffy looking Bank CEO, "How bad is it?"

John rolled his eyes and shrugged, "Well at the end of last quarter, they hemorrhaged the few billion that they had made it profit. I guess their board had decided to allow the company to pay back their bailout from the Government."

"That's the good thing about Television John," Jake smiled at set the photo down, "We're not a bank and people will always buy our products, they need entertainment and information and we give it to them. So I'm pretty sure that we can make it through this recession without getting scratch on us. Speaking of which, how have you been doing?"

The boy almost looked delighted that had asked, Jake bit back a scoff, this kid wasn't subtle, "Well I finally graduated college, I finally got my masters in Economics and I already had this job as a starting point. Life's been good to me."

"Economics, you say?" Jake asked looking at the kid with a curious expression.

John nodded and picked up the last profile of a very last minute attendee that he had forgotten. The people at the NASDAQ had faxed this to Maggie last night and it was rather surprising if you considered their ability to be punctual on all things, but they didn't complain. The next investor had a large sum of potential capital for Publishing Max. Her name was Rose Thorn, she was the only surviving relative of a Gun Company Owner, and when he had died, she inherited his rather large fortune, "The last one that you need to know is this one, her name is Rose Thorn and she-…"

But Jake had stopped at that name, oh he knew that name, or as he knew it, guise, from anywhere. Snatching the picture and details out of John's hand, he almost felt his brain lose blood at the sight of Rose. Oh yes, there was no one in the world with that unique of a name and he knew that there was only person in New York with the name of Rose Thorn. She was going to be there! Oh this was not going to be good, Jake knew that. If there was ever a time that he wished for a stroke, or a heart attack, this would definitively be one of them. Sighing, he shook his head and looked down at her details, "She's the only heir to the _Hunt_ Corporation, maker of the East Coast's finest guns. Oh _please_ Rose even I can see right through that. Wha-…She has a net worth of …_oh yubba_… when did you become loaded? Seriously, when did she sign onto this?"

"A few hours ago," John asked, "Do you know this person sir?"

Jake looked up to him and smiled, "You could say that, but suffice it to say, she and I have some history and I have a feeling a lot of people are going to learn about it today."

"Do you need me to beef of security?" John asked, and Jake simply smirked. The poor little fool didn't know that an army of the biggest beefiest men could hold this woman back from giving him a piece of her mind. What was he going to do? He had to give this presentation to these people. But it could do well for him to have an entire team of men remove Rose against her will. And if everything on her background was true, the fact that from what he remembered about her Uncle confirmed this, then why the hell couldn't she stay. Jake felt stupid for even humoring that idea, there were several reasons why she couldn't stay, but what we he going to do, fight with her in front of them?

Sighing dramatically, he set the photo and sheet back down on the seat next to him, "Yes, but I still want her to come, however we need to be prepared to get the other investors and the press out of there on a moment's notice, when I last saw Rose, we didn't exactly part on wonderful terms and I have no idea what this woman is going to do with me. Can you do that fast enough John?"

John nodded and picked up his phone, "I'll get right on that."

"Good," Jake said before leaning forward and burying his face in his hands, this was not going to end very well.

* * *

"Identification Please?" The Guard asked, Rose was about to make her way through the complex to the conference wing. It wasn't exactly the highlight of the New York Stock Exchange, but she had no need to go onto the floor. She had one destination in mind. You see, she could be very well considered a rich woman. Though her Uncle's Gun Company was just a front to bring money into the Huntsclan, it technically was under her control as Huntsmistress and she had the rights to invest that money how she wanted. She had put someone else in charge of it, someone who actually knew something about running a business, but she controlled the money seeing as it went to fund the Huntsclan directly. So she wasn't committing any crimes. On her more professional side, she was seriously thinking about investing, it depended on good of a salesman Jake was and that was left to the imagination. And she wondered if he'd even take her money once he found out about this whole situation.

Rose smiled and showed the man her driver's license, "I should be on the list to attend the special presentation on Publishing Max. Can you direct me to where it's being held?"

"Right down that hall, and turn to the left," He returned the smile to her, "Should be in Conference B, I heard that Mr. Long is supposed to be there giving it himself, is that true?"

She nodded, "I believe so. You know I'm not good with this whole thing, I'm just a little rich girl who wants to double her money, what do you think about this Publishing Max thing?"

"Well, I already put down ten thousand," He swallowed, by the beads of sweat he looked as if he didn't know if that was a bad decision or not, "I'm hoping it pays off, that's my condo in Boca."

Faking a laugh, Rose nodded her head, "Well I'm sure you'll make a killing, after all, you know what they say about the finical genius of Jake Long."

"Everything he touches turns to gold," The guard smiled and nodded to her, "Thanks for the pep talk ma'am, you're presentation is set to start anytime soon."

* * *

**Authors Note: Well, Rose thinks that Jake doesn't know that she's going to be there yet he does know that she'll be there. Wow! Anyway, I'm three for three. unfortunately I won't four for four. I'm switching gears to New Horizons! Please leave me a review and tell me what you think, my confidence with this plot isn't as established as it is with the Anything and Everything Stories, so positive re-enforcement!**


	8. Chapter 7 – The Next Morning Part III

**Chapter 7 – The Next Morning Part III **

Traffic was a serious bitch in New York City, but Jake would rather be stuck in traffic there then in the baking Los Angeles sun. Sighing deeply, Jake took the folders from John's hand and stepped away from the Limousine. He had been through the most transformative 24 hours that he had ever experienced since his Grandmother had died. Jake had gained a child and a shitload of guilt, plus the added pain of having it dumped on his mountain of stress. He was starting up a new company and he was dealing with the potential of losing Billions of Dollars. Jake really needed a long vacation.

The frigid Manhattan Air caused Jake to see his breath as he walked to the gilded entrance of the NASDAQ conference center. When he went in there, he knew that he would have to face Rose down. She would be there, waiting for him, she would play mind games and Jake knew that she would win. As much as he hated himself for what happened all those years ago, he could not afford to be screwed at his point. He was sure that he would have a stroke if he didn't get at least one of these investors and he'd _die_ of that stroke if Rose was the reason that he didn't get one of them.

Not to mention the fact that if she caused his new company to go down, he'd put a contract out on her that would make every single criminal in the country go after her. Ok, well, he was exaggerating that part, but he'd be royally pissed. Stepping into the spinning door, he blew out a sigh when he saw the slew of camera men. He wasn't a celebrity in the sense of entertainment, but he was a celebrity in the financial world and he knew that any photos taken of him would be in every financial journal in the world.

From the flashes of the camera, Jake wanted to get this over quickly. He had reviewed the idiotic presentation and he had memorized every word. It was strange. In school he was an average student, sometimes even below average, but when he took control of his company than he had become suddenly smarter. If he were in school now, he was sure that he'd be the best student. Jake amazed himself sometimes. Before he could stop himself, he grinned and that caused another flurry of cameras to go off. At least if his family rejected him, he had this, he had money, power and respect.

Following the two security guards that were now splitting a path through the photographers, Jake blew out another sigh and spied the door to the conference room. When he went in there, he would be under immense pressure, and Rose was at the top of that mountain of pressure.

What in hell was he going to do?

* * *

There were three standard looking rectangular tables in the room. Rose smiled, so he'd see her easily. But what made the situation so more delicious was that each seat was labeled with a name tag and she was the far right seat on the first table. So when he turned from the screen, she'd always be there, looking at him and securitizing him. Rose was sure that Jake hadn't changed deep down, outwardly yes, but inwardly he was still the same idiotic man that she had fallen in love with. She knew his fears, his weak points, and his strengths. And Rose had to admit it even to herself, she was probably still in love with him, even though she had no wish to be anymore.

It had been 10 fucking years! She had raised their child on her own while still managing to be the Huntsmistress. Why did she have to still be hopelessly devoted to the son of bitch who had caused it? But there was no changing the fact that she was and she would have to deal with it. However, she would deal with it the way she always did it. She'd lash out at her target and that was Jake. Straightening on her black skirt, she crossed her legs and leaned forward on her elbows. This was going to be an interesting moment.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," _His_ voice said shortly after the door quickly opened and closed, Rose didn't turn around, "I am so sorry, I got stuck in traffic and I guess I forgot how much traffic there was in New York. But I have to admit that I'd rather be stuck in traffic here than in LA, so how is everyone?"

Rose looked up Jake who still had his back turned to them. He was setting a folder down on the table in front of the screen and slipping his black trench coat off of his shoulders and giving it to an aide. She had to role her eyes, so there was a change to him. He had gotten arrogant. But when he turned to them, the bright grin that was on his face made her melt against her own will. Yes, he was handsome. He was so handsome that it almost made her bawl like a baby, she didn't notice how his eyes focused on her for one split second and how they narrowed. But she did catch the way he coughed.

"Alright," He said crossing his arms over his chest, "The NASDAQ sprung this on my team early this morning. I'm talking 5am. In that time we tried to put together a little presentation, I'm here to tell you all about Publishing Max …"

When did Jake get charismatic? Rose was surprised that he made her interested in this. Her number one priority wasn't to invest, it was to tell Jake off, damn him! Damn him straight to hell, "When my Grandmother founded NIGB, she saw television and radio, but in this day and age, I see taking publishing. Books, Magazines, Applications for Smart Phones, it is a gold mine and I can guarantee you that if you invest any sum of money, it will be pay off with a guaranteed 10 percent payoff. Now if you'd please-…"

"Excuse me," Rose held up her hand and she could barely contain the smirk that came over her face, "_Mr. Long_, could you please tell me about the estimated price for each stock when the trading floor opens in later on?"

Rose almost laughed when she saw the force smile on his face, "Thank you for your question _Ms. Thorn_, our analysts predict that it'll open at 50 dollars a share and over the day it's expected to undergo a fifty percent raise."

"So," Rose smiled sweetly and mockingly, knowing exactly what he was thinking now, "Do you think that this'll be a failure? What are your assurances that my money won't be lost are you prepared to reimburse it?"

Jake sputtered to a stop, what the hell was she thinking? Anyone worth their salt, who knew a thing about finance, knew that the reimbursing any investor was a death wish. Mainly for the fact that if some really rich investor put in 300 Million, it could take a large chunk of money from the company to pay back every cent, "I'm sorry Ms. Thorn, you must be new to finance. I can assure you that if I could do that I would, but I'd break my company if I did that. All of us here know that its suicide to do that. Am I right folks?"

She looked around to the nods of everyone in the room, and Rose blushed in humiliation. So that backfired. When she looked up she saw Jake smirking and she narrowed her eyes. Oh, so that's how he wanted to do it. She'd get him back, she'd tear him up, "Forgive me for asking another question Mr. Long, but is it true that you had a child when you are teenager and you abandoned the kid's mother to go out to California to take over NIGB?"

Rose raised her eyebrow and a cocky smile came over her lips. Jake's jaw dropped comically and he fidgeted with the remote to the projector and quickly turned it on. Turning to look at the investors, he smiled sheepishly and laughed just as sheepishly, "If you'll excuse me ladies and gentlemen, my aide John will present this to you. As you heard I have a little matter that I have to straighten out."

He made a beckoning motion to John. The young man quickly paced to the head of the room and took the remote off the table. Jake on the other hand had taken Rose by the arm and practically pulled her out of the chair. It took him a moment to let her go. Pushing the exit open, they walked out. He was too angry at that point. This was not the time. She could not possibly do this to him. Rose had every right to be pissed at him, but he was dealing with a company that was worth Billions and the thought of all of it going down the tubes made him red in the face. He was completely and totally pissed off.

* * *

Thankful that the hallway was now empty, Jake motioned for Rose to follow him to a window. When he turned to her, he tried to shake off the thoughts of how he wanted to just rip that skirt off of her and … never mind, "Alright, you have every right to want to kill me, but if you are going to do it I'd prefer you just take me out behind the barn and shoot me. Don't kill me by giving me a stroke. _I have put BILLIONS into this_! And you just shot it to hell. Now if you insist on killing me just shoot me, don't let me suffer."

"You and I have some unfinished business Dragon Boy," Rose practically purred and stepped forward, "And I'm not going to do it quickly."

Putting a hand on her hip, she leaned forward and lightly captured his lower lip between her teeth. Feeling him shiver, she smirked and pulled back. Then she winked and spun on her heel and sashayed back to the conference room. Rose supposed that she wanted to make him squirm first, and she knew how to do that perfectly. She would use her body and her special skills.

'_Oh hell …_' Jake thought.


	9. Chapter 8 – As If We Never Met

**Chapter 8 – As If We Had Never Met **

Her heels clicked against the ground as she marched back into the Conference Room with an air of confidence around her. She was going to drive him wild, tease him, make him squirm and then she would drop him, only then. Rose didn't want to kill him, nor did she think she'd get away with it. It would have been different if Jake had been some obscure man, but he was the CEO and Chairman of a worldwide company. She'd be caught, and even though she wasn't afraid of it, she had a child and that child would be affect by her arrest. So she'd have her fun in this way, her very own way.

Crossing her legs, she smiled and leaned forward in sleek anticipation of the approaching moment. Rose knew everything about Jake's personal natures and she knew all of his special feelings that drove him wild. When they dated, sex was something that happened on a regular occasion. She was an old pro at driving Jacob Luke Long wild and she would kick it up a notch this time, "Sorry, that little matter has been cleared up for the moment."

Rose had to suppress a snort as Jake rushed past her and back up the raised portion of the room. She had to admit, he did look charismatic. It was almost as if she had never met the adorable, clumsy, skating boy fourteen years prior. Now, he was the confident, billionaire, tycoon, CEO of a worldwide Cable Empire who had the financial world bowing to him and women probably flocked to him. That caused a stirring wave of grief, rage and jealousy to come from the pit her stomach.

Mainly for two reasons, she had never had sex with another man besides Jake. Not to mention the little fact she hadn't had it in a decade and if he had been having it all of these years with gorgeous blondes, she'd go ballistic, "Mr. Long, what is the minimum investment amount for this?"

Rose looked up to Jake when he answered, "10,000,000 Dollars, 6.1 Million British Pounds, 852.7 Million Japanese Yen, 280.6 Million Russian Rubles, 6.9 Million Euro, those are the starting rates for high yield payoffs. That's the accepting bracket for over a Million investments. Low Yield starts at 10,000."

She couldn't help herself, "I met a security guard outside. He said that he had invested his entire nest egg into this. How will that work for him?"

"Well, Rose," He said in an overly patient tone, "How big is the egg?"

"I'd say about $40,000 Dollars, from what I've heard these Guards-…" Rose couldn't finish when that same voice spoke up from the back of the room. It was the guard that had been at the door when she arrived at the NASDAQ Building. She turned around and smiled at the man, this was excellent.

"Actually it's $59,340 Dollars," The Guard asked, looking at Jake excitedly.

Jake raised an eyebrow at the slight interaction between Rose and The Guard and he felt a slight tinge of jealousy. Wow, he hadn't been with her in ten years and he knew he had no right to stake claim from her, or be protective of her. But he bit his tongue and smiled at the man, "Well, while that is high above the low yield payoff rate, if things go as we want them too, as our analysts predict. You should make a killing, $250,000 Dollars to $500,000."

When the man cheered, he watched as Rose smiled fondly and frankly he couldn't help but feel happy. Sure, he was a _Billionaire_, but he could understand how a man who made fifty thousand dollars a year, having it suddenly turned into a quarter of a million or a half a million. Jake could still feel the jealousy and the slight anger over her reactions toward the man …but there was her veiled threat. She was good. Oh she knew how to press his buttons. But he also knew how to press hers. He could play this game too, "Thank you Mr. Long! Oh thanks to you I can buy that Condo!"

"Not a problem," Jake said smiling, "But why didn't do an even number?"

"It's literally everything I have," The Guard answered back stoically.

Jake swallowed the lump in his throat. He didn't like being put in this position, the position of putting Middle Class Workers Savings on the line. He knew that millions of Middle Class people invested with him, but he rarely got a chance to see them. That's why he committed himself to make his company always show green on the NASDAQ and keep those Middle Class people having their money flowing. Looking down to his watch, Jake noticed the time, he wasn't due to end this for at least twenty minutes, but he wanted to make some time for Rose. Payback was a fucking bitch.

"Excuse me," Jake smiled to everyone in the room, "But I have a meeting to get to, I'm so sorry. John here will take your questions and your possible investments. I hope that my somewhat, _erratic _behavior won't influence you."

Not saying another word, Jake took his coat from John who held it out for him and stepped down from the raised section. While walking down the aisle, he smirked at Rose and winked at her. Before she was out of his sight, he did manage to catch her blush. He still had it with Rose. And he would use that

* * *

She had left not long after he did. Oh boy, he was a son of a bitch. Jake knew just as well as she did that they were still sexual attracted to each other, but feelings for each other was another story. Yes, she was fond of that guard, but she was merely flirting with him to make the father of her child jealous, and it worked. That wink and smirk floored her every time she did it. And it was no different a decade later. It didn't matter. She'd still get her way.

Walking down the empty hallway, her heels clicked against the smooth floor with catlike ease. Her senses tingled but she chose to ignore them, she was in the financial capital of the world, what mugger or rapist would be in the building. But she chose to ignore them, and she'd pay for it. Not by getting mugged or raped, but by a strong hand yanking her against the wall of the hallway. When she saw the man who pulled her against the wall, she saw it was Jake. Wow, big surprise there. But what happened next was unexpected.

His breath drifted against her neck and he felt his hips grind into hers as he lifted her up off of the floor. She cursed inwardly when she felt her legs wrap around his waist involuntarily and she cursed further when he chuckled, "As you always said baby, payback is a fucking bitch. So here we are. We have a good twenty minutes before this hallway will be filled up. How about ...-"

Jake ground his hips into hers again and the both of them groaned, "…I fuck you right here in this hall?"

* * *

**Authors Note/ I know that last section gets a little dirtier than normal, but it would advance further. I won't write smut and if I eventually did, I wouldn't be stupid enough to post it on here. Anyhow send me a review! Oh, and let me explain myself, most of the people who read this story also read my Anything and Everything Series. As I explained, I have and currently am in Washington DC, something for my job. Right now, I'm on my IPAD, I had this saved on here. I actually typed this a few weeks ago, but I forgot about it. **

**I've typed this author's note (PAINSTAKINGLY) on this damn tablet, one finger at a time. **

**I hadn't intended on updating any of my stories, but this was sitting here on my IPAD and I had to get this out. So I say again, leave me a review. **


	10. Chapter 9 – Weakness

**Chapter 9 – Weakness **

Was she about to do this, after all this man had caused her?

Hell, who was she kidding, she wanted this. Jake and their son were perhaps her only weakness and she had guarded both of her weakness behind her cold exterior. Maybe if she gave in, just this once, then nothing bad would happen. The life that she had built around herself wouldn't collapse in a fiery hell. Casting aside her inhibitions, she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and began to bite and nibble at his neck, a place, she knew drove him around the bend, "You had better make it quick, you filthy son of a bitch."

Jake chuckled warmly and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and brought her across to one of the pillars that obstructed the view from the oncoming people that would be there very soon. He had no intention of making this quick, but he was going to do it in the time span that they had and he was going to enjoy himself. He missed her, he had done this many times since the last time with Rose and quite frankly, the rest of that had nothing on her. She was the best, and she would always be his.

Slumped against the pillar, she breathed in heavily and untied her hands from behind Jake's neck to wipe the hair that had matted itself to her forehead. Sighing, when Jake literally got off of and _out_ of her, she stood there a moment and braced herself on her knees. She couldn't believe she had given in like that. What the hell was she thinking? That a quick fuck was going to make everything better? No, it was a part of their game to top each other and frankly Jake had just won it, "Why the fuck did you do that?"

"Why the fuck were you making that face at the guard?" Jake demanded.

Fixing the buttons on her jacket and pulling the tie out of her hair, her dirty blond tresses fell to her shoulders and she put her hands on her hips. How dare he do this to her, after what he did, "I don't answer to you, you're the one who left me, pregnant, and you didn't even give me a chance to say it!"

"I know," Jake backed down at that instant, there were no words to say how guilty that he was feeling because of that and it was an open wound to her.

"And it wasn't so much that you would have been away, I could have handled that, your son would still know his family," Rose stepped forward and in her current mindset, the past ten minutes never happened, "I made sure of that, I made sure that he knew your mother and your sister and your father. But you didn't even allow me the courtesy to tell you I was-…"

She was cut off again and this time it was from Jake himself, rushing up to her and pulling her tight against him and delivering a swift, but passionate kiss onto her lips, "Rose, this entire thing has been my fault, you know me, if I would have known that I had a child with you, I would have dropped everything and helped you. Now when you were going to tell me, that night in Central Park, I had just found out that I became the third richest man in history, you'll have to forgive me if I was under a bit of stress."

Rose held a finger up and bared her teeth, "Like I said, I can understand that part and I was completely supportive of it, I still am. What I'm pissed off about and what I've been pissed off about was the fact that you were so caught up in yourself that you didn't even let me FUCKING SPEAK!"

He lowered his head, "I know Rose, and I felt and do feel like shit."

"Good," She crossed her arms over her chest, "While you were away making shit loads of cash and screwing plastic dumb bitches, I was becoming Huntsmistress and at the same time, trying to conceal the fact that my son's father was a dragon, do you know what would happen if they found out!"

Jake had an idea and it made him frown, he didn't want to think about it.

"They would have killed him and then me, it wasn't easy, but I did it, you are damn lucky that I was manipulative and cunning enough to fool my Uncle into believing that Trevor's father was just a simply human," Rose narrowed her eyes and stepped closer to him, "I have been waiting a fucking decade to chew you out and you will not rob me of the chance, do you understand me Jake?"

He nodded, "Crystal."

"I have made the point clear throughout the Huntsclan that no one fucks with my child, I have protected him and shielded him from all possible ways that someone could find out about his heritage," She poked him hard in the chest, but he didn't move, "I also gave a place to protect him in the form of your Mother, she isn't pissed like I am, but she's disappointed about what you did."

Jake shook his head, "It didn't seem like that when I spoke with her."

"Wha-…You've seen her?" Rose asked, rather shocked.

"Last night when I got in, that's how I found out," Jake explained quietly.

"And she didn't tell you that she was disappointed?" She demanded crossly.

He shook his head, "I told you she didn't seem like that."

"Of course," Rose snorted derisively, "You know what, since you know about him, I'm going to let you see your child, and you have to explain the reasons that he didn't grow up with you and the reasons you left, do you understand."

After finding out about him and after knowing Rose like he did, the last thing he expected to find out is that she wanted him to have a relationship with their son, "I can't believe that you're going to let me even speak to him."

"Well why wouldn't I Jake? I'm not so cold, vindictive bitch. I mean, yes I am, but I'm not about to do you like you did me all those years ago," Rose slapped her hands to her side. But after she blew out a frustrated sigh, she rubbed the bridge of her nose, "He's so much like you anyway, it scares me."

Jake laughed, it was a withdrawn laugh, but it was a laugh none the less.

And for the first time in ten years, he heard her laugh, it was a laugh that he missed and a laugh that he wanted to hear again, "I mean just yesterday, the kid blew up the science lab at the academy with some of his friends. The Headmaster wanted to put him in the pit with a Kraken for it but-…"

"What?" He was now the one who was demanding things.

"Oh don't worry," She held up a finger with a slight laugh, "When I found out about his intentions, I slit the little fucker's throat for threatening our kid."

Jake sighed and looked down to his watch, "Look, as much as I love talking with you again, I have to get onto the trading floor for the opening bell. Unless you want to join me? Maybe we can have lunch, you know what-…"

"No," Rose offered his a polite smile, "I'd enjoy having lunch with you."


	11. Chapter 10 – Are We Back?

**Chapter 10 – Are we back? **

When Rose had agreed to join Jake for the rest of day, she didn't intend on become surrounded by a massive group of people that were asking him dozens of questions every single minute. Rose wore an amused expression on her face the entire time, Jake walked around like a man who had graduated from Harvard with a Masters Degrees. Sure, this attention and all of this praise for Jake made her feel small compared to him, but she had the pleasure of knowing Jake as he truly was. What he was down to Earth.

And it wasn't in his ruthless Billionaire Tycoon.

He was a normal guy, with emotions and feelings and somehow Rose knew that Jake understood what it was to be without. But none of those things mattered anymore. That was the past and this was now, and right now Jake was a Billionaire and a Tycoon. She was just the poor woman who happened to mother his only child. Well, that's what she thought anyway, what she wanted to believe after Jake had left for California. But she knew that she and Jake would always, one way or the other, come back to each other.

"Rose," Jake knocked her out of her thoughts, "Are you coming?"

Rose shook her head clear and nodded, "Yeah, where are we going?"

"My private box," Jake smiled and opened the door.

When she walked inside, a cool breeze hit her and she found that she had entered a whole new world. This was the world that Jake was used to. It was first class. A desk, a big comfy looking chair, a bar, several televisions tuned to cable news shows and financial networks and a big window pane that looked out over the trading floor, "Wow, I could live in this room."

"Yes you could," Jake chuckled and hung his coat up on the clip next to the door, "All this place is missing is a kitchen, there's a shower and toilet in the back. We can have lunch here. They cater and deliver to the people here."

Rose shrugged and walked to the small area that surrounded the Televisions. Taking a seat in one of the lounge chairs, she crossed her legs and looked back up at him, "Is this box tailored to your interests Jake?"

Currently at the desk, picking up a few papers, Jake looked up and shook his head, "No, I haven't been back to New York in 10 Years, this is my CFO's Box, but I gave him the week off and told him I'd handle everything here. I have never come back here for three reasons, I hate traveling, I run the company from the Corporate World Headquarters in San Francisco. Not to mention that I've always sort of have a fear of coming back here."

Rose scowled, "And why is that?"

"Gee," Jake answered back sarcastically, "I don't know Rose, the painful memories of leaving this place. I swore to myself that if I came back here, I'd stay. And to be honest, I'm considering it, but it'll take a little while."

"Why not just quit?" Rose asked, her pulse jumped at the thought of Jake staying in town personally and she wanted to purse that to its end.

He smiled and sat down across from her and laid the papers down on the table, "I like my job and I don't intent on quitting until I'm at least forty years old. I mean I have several options. I could fly back and forth from California on the weekends. Or I could move my Corporate HQ out here."

But Rose wasn't listening. She was too caught up in his vocabulary. Shaking her head with a winning smile, she continued to snicker at him. For a moment, the thought occurred to her that she really hadn't snickered like this since …well…she saw him last, "Dragon Boy? Why are you so smart?"

"What do you mean by that?" Jake asked in a curious, but light tone.

"Well, the last time I saw you, you were a High School Graduate with only a High School Diploma, you talk with a vocabulary of a Harvard Business School Graduate and you're not that awkward skating kid any more, what happened?" She asked quietly, she was still absorbing all of this rapidly.

Jake chuckled and leaned back, "I dealt with some of the most conniving, brutal, ruthless, greedy, corrupt and smart bastards in the world. I've had to deal with Political Parties and Organizations offering me money to broadcast their ads. I've had to deal with very tough people whose only goal in life is to bring my company down. How can I not gain knowledge?"

Rose snorted, "You have a point."

"Besides, Harvard Business School granted me an honorary degree three years ago," Jake added, smugly, at her, "I'm the king of the world, Rose."

And just like that, Rose's eyes misted slightly, "And do I have a place in it?"

"Of course," He stopped his smug rant about his life and looked over to her with an equal bit of seriousness in his voice, "Unless of course you're still pissed at me. Well, I can't ask you not to be mad, but if you're willing to work on this, there's always a place for you, with me. Understand Rose?"

Despite all the anger and bitterness that she felt towards this man, she couldn't help but still love him. Of course she wanted to work on their relationship. Also, despite the fact that she had sometimes wished otherwise, they shared a child together and Trevor needed to be around his father and have him in his life, "I understand, but I'm not going to California."

"Just for the hell of it, why not?" He asked, he already knew the answer.

"I'm the Huntsmistress, if it were not for that fact, I might consider it, but I can't just up and leave," Rose reasoned, she could technically leave, but in a pine box, "If you want me in your life, and your son too, that I suggest you find a way to be here in New York. I'm sure that you can do that easily."

He studied her for a moment, his intense glare made her skin tingle, but she fought that urge. He was contemplating something, something big and Rose wanted desperately to know what he meant, "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking," Jake said, leaning back and reaching into his pocket to withdraw his blackberry, "About calling My Office and my Real Estate Agent and starting the process of moving back to New York, to be with you."

And for the first time in years, Rose was genuinely shocked.


	12. Chapter 11 – Step By Step

**Chapter 11 – Step By Step**

There was a lot of pressure on him – but Jake had gotten used to that now.

It was a raised platform that overlooked the trading floor and whoever opened the Trading Session of that day was usually the latest flavor of the week or if your product was big enough, the month. Jake's new company was a publishing company. It _was_ big enough. He would publish books, magazines and newspapers both digitally and in paper. It would boost his standing as more than the world's most successful Television Network producer. The founding of this company, '_Publishing Max_' was a win-win situation for everyone, "I want to thank everybody for coming here."

Then the boxes of confetti opened up on them and with the clanging of the trading bell, it rained down on all of the people. These were the moments that he enjoyed, where he truly felt like he ruled the world, or at least a large piece of it. He laughed and clapped his hands together as the stock quote for Publishing Max appeared on the screen. As everyone had literally expected, it was shooting up like clockwork and it seemed with every passing second the price of a single stock seemed to rise three dollars.

'_$7.00…$10.00…$13.00…$20.00…' _Jake counted in his head.

He felt like was going to pass out from the happiness, this price was even beyond his own company's projections and they were the best in their field of Stock Market Readings. They had projected in the first hour that the price would rise to about $50.00 -$50.00 a stock- by the end of the day, -$300.00 a stock- it would sell like hotcakes and it would take the record as the fastest expanded company on the Stock Market since the 1920s. He shook the hand of the NASDAQ Chairman and thanked him, "Thanks Bill, I hoped it would do well and my dream is quickly coming true, thank you."

"Not a problem Jake," Bill nodded and shook the man's hand with even more enthusiasm, "And thank you again for coming on your own."

"I'll be doing that more often," Jake said, subtly dethatching his hand from the other man, "I'm moving my Corporate World Headquarters out here, well I'm taking steps to. We're thinking about across the street, but then again it's so hard to acquire property on Wall Street, any ideas?"

Bill nodded, "Just move into the headquarters here. Don't create a new one."

"That sounds so simple," Jake shook his head, he didn't like the NASDAQ Chairman, he was simply humoring the man and reinforcing his strong ties to the Wall Street Leadership, "Don't know why I didn't think about it, you know Bill, I've got to have go lunch with a special friend of mine. I'm afraid I have to cut this a little short, I'll be up in my box if you need me."

He smiled, "If there are any problems you call me."

* * *

"You looked like you had an orgasm out there," Rose observed dryly, with a hint of laughter at her sort of-boyfriend. In all honesty, she didn't know what they were. But they were most certainly looking forward from the past if that were possible. It would take time, but for some reason, she wanted to do it.

He hung his coat on the hook near the door and snickered, "I think I did, I mean did you see that, it shot up from being worth nothing to $20.00 a share. If I didn't cum in my pants, I'd want to go see the doctor about it."

Rose leaned back in her chair and laughed, "You should know that all of the networks are going nuts and calling you the new King of Capitalism. This is all so weird Jake, you're like this new man that has control of his entire world."

He shrugged and took a seat next to her on the couch, "What can I say, and it's the awful truth about this country, the people with the money have the power and if you aren't maniacal about it, you tend to have a great life."

"I'm the leader of the _entire_ Huntsclan and I hate it," Rose brooded and took a sip of some orange juice that she had ordered, "I understand that you're making an effort to repair our relationship Jake, but if this is going to work, you need to understand that things aren't as easy as they were before and I don't even know if I can call all of that easy. We'll be very busy at times."

Jake sighed and shook his head, "I know that, I have a conference in Beijing with the Government two weeks from now. They want to contract my company to handle their Government TV. Now if I get it, and I'm fairly confident that they will give it to me, it's a $650 Million Dollar Deal."

"Selling to the Communists? I'm ashamed of you Jake," Rose smiled.

He gratefully returned the smile, "Once you get to know them, they're not that bad and they're a Communist Nation in all but their markets. I'm taking advantage of it and I'm going to slowly take over broadcasting in China."

"That's great," Rose nodded and looked down to her phone. She had received a text during Jake's appearance on TV. It was from one of her Hunters who had been battling the American Dragon, other wise known as Haley Long, Jake's sister, "Eh… listen Jake. I just got a text from one of my Hunters that I assigned to the New York area. He just got his ass whipped by your sister. I've got to punish him, what do you suggest that I do?"

Jake smirked and leaned back in his chair, "You say Haley kicked his ass?"

Rose nodded, "For the forth time actually, Trevor knows about his joint heritage and I didn't want to send my best operative to your sister, this Hunter is naïve, so I'm sending a child into doing an adults work. Should I punish him or should I just send him back to the academy for more work?"

"Academy for sure," Jake nodded, "So you said that he know that we're…?"

"Dragons, yes he does, he doesn't acknowledge it but he's aware. He told me that he'd hate me forever if sent someone to kill his precious Aunt Haley, so I've gone easy on her," Rose shrugged, sending back the text that would decide the boy's fate. She ran things differently then her Uncle did, she didn't push one to the brink of death for a simple failure. He'd go back to the Academy for a few months, "He's very prideful in the fact that his Mother is the Huntsmistress. He walks around smugly about it and he always get's his way with the teachers because he's perfectly aware that I'll cut their throats if they upset him. He uses me, but I can't help it Jake, he's my kid."

Jake nodded, "Is he arrogant, self centered, snide?"

"No," Rose shook her head and leaned forward to set the phone down on the table, "Only with the adults that piss him off, I can't blame him. I was exactly like that. Otherwise he's a perfect little angel to his loved ones."

"Does he know all about me, I mean the whole enchilada?" Jake asked.

Rose nodded, "He knows everything. He actually keeps up with your big headlines. For a report for primary education with the Clan, his class had to choose the one person that they idolized and wanted to be like in life. Can you take a guess as to who that might have been, and it's not me, sadly."

He didn't know what to say, she was implying that his son, whom he hadn't learned existed until last night idolized him over his mother. His mother who he had been raised and nurtured by, why would Trevor want to be like him? He couldn't know but he had the serious inclination to understand why when he met the kid, "Why wouldn't he want to do his report on you?"

"He said he didn't idolize me," Rose giggled at the image in her head, "I was kind of hurt by that, but I'd rather have him idolize his father then my Uncle. That's another thing about our son. Things just sort of slip out, he doesn't have turrets or anything, but he's just that fucking blunt, it's very adorable."

"How is that adorable?" Jake asked. He was just enjoying this conversation.

Rose snickered again, "Picture a five year old boy, telling your nearly 68 year old Uncle that he's a big, fat, evil meanie to his face and getting away with it. Well that boy was our son and that Uncle was the Huntsman."

Jake was to busy laughing himself to hear what she said, he had caught on the moment that Rose had mentioned the Uncle. The Kid must have had no fears whatsoever, he knew that if he were a five year old and faced the imposing sight of the Huntsman, he'd shit himself. Rubbing his stomach, he looked back over to her, "Five years old, that's how he got away with it?"

"No," Rose shook her head with fondness, "My Uncle liked him, and in fact you could almost say that Trevor was the only thing that he ever came close to loving in his life. While he spent my entire life trying to indoctrinate me, he didn't do that with Trevor. He treated him like a normal kid."

"I remember him being nothing but an evil son of a bitch," Jake observed.

"He was, to everyone but Trevor," Rose rolled her eyes, "I hope the hounds of hell are gnawing on his bones. Anyway, I am here to spend some time with your snotty ass and not think about the past, so tell me about-…"

She couldn't finish her sentence, her phone was ringing and it was that one particular ringtone that told her it was her son. Trevor didn't have phone, he was calling from Susan's phone, but she assigned that ringtone so she'd always know to pick it up. Rose leaned forward to the table and picked it up with a smile at Jake, "Its Trevor, do you want to listen in on it?"

"Why not?" Jake shrugged.

Rose pressed the speakerphone button on the side of her phone and answered it, "Is there something you need, _you little boil?"_

"Great Phone Etiquette Mom," Trevor answered back dryly.

Shrugging with a grin towards Jake, she turned her attention back to the phone, "I'm sort of in the middle of a little something, can you make this quick son I have to get back to what I was doing."

"Sure," He answered accommodating his mother's request, "Grandma wants to go see a movie and she wants me to go along and she wants to know if I can go. I said it was stupid since I'm the Huntsboy and all, but she one of those people. It's got some blood and violence in it, can I go?"

Rose snorted, "Of course you can, you might pick up some stuff."

"Alright," Trevor answered back with a laugh, "I love you, bye."

"Bye babe," Rose said hanging up the phone and turning towards Jake.

"He got my sense of humor," She beamed at him.

"Oh hell," Jake observed with a bit of a laugh, "I can already hear the barbs."


	13. Chapter 12 – Seldom Fears

**Chapter 12 – Seldom Fear **

* * *

"Yeah," Jake said running his hand through his hair, "I want something nice, near the financial district and something that isn't shady. Give them any price that they want and make sure not to tell who it is that you're representing. If I know people, they'll want to overinflate the price of it."

Rose watched as he smiled to the Real Estate Agent's Response and hung up the phone. If there were any stirrings of jealousy in the way Jake talked to the woman, they were buried under the warm, gushy feelings that filled her when he grinned at her. What the hell was happening? Three hours ago, she walked into this building with the sole intention of telling this man off and giving her a piece of the anguish that she had felt for the past decade.

Instead, she ended up having sex with the man, lunch and just one of the most enjoyable afternoons that she had ever had. She most certainly didn't hate Jake anymore, she understood his reasoning and for whatever reason, she did understand why he didn't let her talk that night. He, in his idiocy, thought that she was going to beg him to stay. She didn't beg, she wasn't that type of person and she just wished Jake had known that.

Those feelings of anguish that had taken ten whole years to build up had turned into something of a sore spot in a little over 180 Minutes. The Human Mind and Human Emotions were things that were bendable and easily manipulated. Rose just never imagined, in her wildest dreams, that with her mental and physical fortitude that she'd ever fall victim to any of them.

"Is there something wrong?" Jake asked her and that knocked her out of her thoughts. Had she been thinking all of this so intently for him to notice it?

Rose shook her head with a forced smile, "No, nothings wrong."

"Good," Jake smiled, he didn't exactly believe her, but he wasn't going to ruin this moment that was so enjoying right now, "I have to go back to my hotel and be briefed for my media blitz this coming week. Do you want to come with me? Or do you have some Huntsclan shit to get done tonight?"

Laughing, Rose shook her head, "I do have to go back to the Huntslair for a little while, but I'm having Dinner at your mother's house tonight. It's sort of a little tradition that we've had every time Trevor decides to come over."

"Oh," Jake leaned back in his chair, he suddenly felt like and outsider to his family, it was a cold sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, "And how does one get invited to these Dinners? Is there some sort of fee per plate?"

Rose smirked, "I'll make sure that your mother calls you and asks you to come. Now, I think it's best that we be off, you have your little meeting to get to and I have my underlings to wipe into shape. Shall we be off?"

Standing, Jake nodded, "I'll see you tonight?"

She walked forward and pressed herself up against him, it was a coy gesture but it would make itself known very soon, "I think I would like that."

If she would have thought about this kiss five hours ago, she would have been repulsed completely. But Jake, he just …had this affect on her and the strangest thing was, she accepted it and enjoyed it completely. When Rose left that building a little while later, she didn't know what was going to come, she was unsure about the near future and that frightened her. She knew that she couldn't predict the future, but she the near future was another thing and Rose was heavily accustomed to knowing what possibilities the near future would hold. This was the first time, in a very long time, that she didn't.

And it was one of her seldom fears.

* * *

Jake leaned back into his seat as the limousine departed the Main Stock Exchange Building. He checked the stock price before he had left and it was currently hovering a little over $75.00, he had also looked at the stock price of the main company, INGB. It had been stimulated heavily by the astounding success of Publishing Max, when the bell opened INGB Stock was worth $387.00 a single share, with the growth of Publishing Max it was up to $452.00. Jake felt great in the knowledge that he had just made millions of people incredible amounts of money or even obscenely rich.

That Guard that Rose was so friendly with, if Jake's internal math was correct, would have made around $4,459,500. His initial expectations were even exceeded and because of that, the guard that had been working for 20 years and for minimum wage was now the owner of $4.4 Million Dollars worth of stock. That was the benefit of Capitalism, you could start with a singular, low amount of money and in three hours become a multimillionaire.

Picking up his phone, he hit the speed dial button for Maggie's Cellphone and held it up to his ear. She should be done rearranging his entire schedule, and she would be very testy, but he needed to know, "Sir, I'm glad you've called."

"You seem too happy? What's going on?" Jake joked lightly.

"Oh no," Maggie retorted tersely, but careful enough not to let a lot of it seep into her voice, "I've had about sixteen shots of espresso, that's the only way that I've even up right now. I've got everything ready and when you get back here, it'll be ready for you to review. Can I please go get some sleep now?"

Jake laughed, "Yes, I'm sorry that I kept you up all night."

"It's fine sir," Maggie said, he could tell that she smiled, "Just don't wake me up."

* * *

**Authors Note: Bronchitis sucks ...I had it a lot when I was younger and I've had it for like two weeks now. I know that's unusual, but as many times as I've caught it, I've grown to not think anything about it is unusual. Today I finally had the strength and mental capacity to type something up. I'm sorry I've been neglecting you. I should have something else out later this week. **

**I'm gonna go back to sleep now ...you healthy people ... I hate you -.-...**


	14. Chapter 13 – Movement

**Chapter 13 – Movement **

Clayton hated recon duty, but someone had to do it and he would be incredibly foolish to disobey a direct order from the Council. The Council that he was reporting to was none other then the Huntsmistress's Council of Advisors. In the function of the entire organization, they had very little real power, but they exerted a lot of influence. They had to do this in secret of course. If any of them were caught disobeying the unquestioned control of the Huntsmistress then it was punishable by death. But they had expressed some concern about her recent affairs to him and they had charged him with investigating them. That's what led him here, across the street from the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, trailing the path of a Billionaire that he had a very large connection to the Huntsmistress. He didn't know the exact details, but he was fairly sure that there was more to this situation then met the eye. This man… this Jacob Long was a Billionaire and let's faces facts; the Huntsmistress was an incredibly attractive woman. Perhaps that was it.

Narrowing his eyes in the lens of his camera, he snapped a few more pictures of the man departing from the Limousine. Clayton would do a little bit more digging, and he would find that connection.

Perhaps he'd finally gain his full promotion into Huntership

* * *

When she had returned to her quarters in the Huntslair, she had abandoned the personality of Rose and assumed the role of the Huntsmistress once again. This entire building had belonged to her Uncle, it was now hers and the upper half of the building was exclusively the headquarters of the upper echelons of the Huntsclan. Her quarters, or rather her office had again, once belonged to her Uncle. It had a massive view of Central Park and Rose felt extremely powerful when she looked out over it. She was waiting from a report from her spies, in a sense.

On top of all that had happened as of late, there was another thing weighing on her mind that she only allowed herself to think about some of the time, the seeds of betrayal in her Council of Advisors. She had gotten wind of it months ago, and had silently ordered them all to be watched. They were fools to think that she would notice it. Rose reasoned that she knew how to play their game, and she was the best at it. She play along with them, "Mistress, you should know that you were tailed. I don't know what you were doing down on Wall Street, but you were followed. We intercepted messages from Advisor Graham."

Rose, with her hands around her back, nodded without turning around, "Who did they con into following me?"

"Apprentice Hunter _Clayton Dereks_," Her _'Spy'_ responded stoically, she was astounding loyal to her Mistress and this action by the Council angered her.

Her brow quirked upwards, she knew that name from somewhere. She couldn't quite place it, but she knew that once she laid her eyes on the boy, it would hit her. Turning to meet the eyes of her spy, Rose grinned, "I want Apprentice Dereks brought to me when he returns from his recon mission. I want to have a word with him, and make sure when you grab him, to make it discreet and none suspicious."

The Spy bowed slightly before turning on the balls of her feet, but she stopped suddenly when a question came to mind, "Mistress, may I ask you a question?"

"Yes," Rose nodded.

"What were you doing on Wall Street?" The woman asked Rose, she was curious. She was not at all suspicious, but the question had irked her for hours now.

Taking a seat in the large backed chair, Rose laid her hands across the hard wood desk and looked back at the woman with a sincere smile, "I was visiting an Old Boyfriend from High School."

Inwardly Rose snorted, '_An_ Old Boyfriend?' hell, Jake was her only boyfriend from High School, but her servant didn't need to know that. She might have considered this a tactical mistake, her silent bid for control with the Advisor's Council depended on secrecy, but they would never get close to the truth. Rose had taken steps, _years_ ago, to make sure that they couldn't. Having apparently bought it, her Servant nodded and turned to the exit. When the door to the office was shut, Rose sighed and leaned her forehead into her hands. There was another reason that she had been keeping Trevor away from the Huntslair for the past few months. Her reasoning tied directly to the issue of the Advisory Council. She didn't want her only child to be used as bait, or leverage.

At the academy, she had him under 24 Hours a day surveillance from Hunters that she expressly trusted, researched and picked. She had ordered them to keep their distance, but keep their eyes on him on all times. If he was aware of this or not, Rose wasn't sure, but he hadn't said a thing to her about it and perhaps it was best if it stayed that way. With the Longs, he was kept under the protection of his Aunt and his Great-Grandfather. When he was at the Huntslair, her eyes were on him all of the times, and not even the agents of the Council would be foolish enough to try anything when she was within fifteen feet of him at all times. Rose began to think that it was a mistake for not even mentioning this to Jake, but the more she thought about it, the more she was firmly routed in her position.

No one would know about this until she could expose the Council, then she would begin to lift the security from her child. Perhaps even tell the father of her child about the security risk.

Only time would tell.

* * *

When he arrived in the building, he was immediately flanked by two large men and one woman came to stand in front of him. He had seen photos of these three, specific people in the secure files the Council had provided to him. They were, what you could almost say was the Huntsclan equivalent of the Secret Police. All three of these people were expressly loyal to the Huntsmistress and only here. He knew that there were dozens more perhaps even hundreds, but these three were the chief among them. This could mean a number of things, but he was sure by the way one of the men ripped the camera out of his hand it was about his recently completed secret mission. The woman came up to him and spoke with unhidden malice in her voice, "Apprentice Dereks, the Huntsmistress would love to have a chat with you."

Clayton audibly gulped, he was sure that he was now dead as a doornail.

* * *

Rose had found Clayton's files and she was now flipping through them casually. She had discovered why she knew that name. When she had first become Huntsmistress, the Council had advised her to promote Clayton Dereks to the position of Huntsboy and train him as her apprentice. Naturally, she had chosen Trevor for that position, but he was quite literally still a baby at the time and because of her refusal to take the Council's advice, she went an entire eight years without an apprentice. Perhaps this was a silent slap in the face? Who knew, but she knew that this Dereks boy wasn't anyone to be trifled with, so she wouldn't show mercy to him. There was a knock on the door and without looking up from the file, Rose smiled, "Come in."

Her Spy's voice was the first one she heard, "We have the boy that you wanted to see, and we also have this."

Looking up, Rose saw that she had a camera in her hands. Good, they had gotten the photographs before the Council could see them. Beckoning the woman to her, the spy walked forward and placed the digital camera in her hand. Rose sighed and flipped the camera one before turning to the recently taken pictures. They were what she expected. He captured her getting off of the subway, into a taxi, walking into the NASDAQ Building, walking out of the building. But the last few photos were something that she didn't expect, and they were photo's that made her blood boil. The little fool had followed Jake! Now she was equally glad that she had caught him before he could deliver the picture. Sure, she could afford to let Jake's name even be thrown around in the Council's Rebellion and she was confident that they would never discover him for what he really was, but it was an easy connection to make, through none other then her son. Oh, she was going to crush this little boy, Rose looked up at her spy, "Send him in."

* * *

When he was shoved into the office, his chill of fear turned into outright shaking as he spied the Huntsmistress. She was looking down at the camera and she wore the most frightening scowl on her face. He walked forward and took a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk, unsure of what to do. Rose finally looked up and bore down on him with her ice-blue eyes. There was something in her expression that made him want kill himself, before she killed him, "Apprentice Dereks, can you explain to me what you doing when you checked out of the base at 7:00 AM this morning?"

"Taking pictures?" He offered meekly, what else could he say? He was usually confident, but in the face of the Huntsmistress, his confidence was eroded away.

Rose snorted, "Well, I do take a good picture don't you think?"

"I would say so, ma'am," Again he offered her, it was a meek retort.

She smiled evilly, "You have ten seconds to tell me why and who you were taking these pictures for or …,"

Rose reached into the first drawer of the desk and gripped a large Desert Eagle, she brought it out of the drawer and pointed it across the desk at the young man's head, "…I'll blow your head off."


	15. Chapter 14 – Ultimatum

**Chapter 14 – Ultimatum**

* * *

"I want you to keep in mind, you little shit, that I have eyes and ears in all parts of the Huntsclan," Rose sneered, taking extra care to make sure that the kid heard the gun cock. She was a professional at intimidation and she was working her magic with the boy. If he was at all smart as his file said he was then he would obey her. It wasn't like her to flex the weight behind her title, but wasn't it his duty as a Hunter to give his life to obey her unquestioned word? Yes, Rose was sure about the only title description that they had. Keeping her eyes trained squarely on the boy, she didn't blink. She was ready to attack.

The Huntsmistress smiled as she visibly saw the façade of innocence drop from the boy's face, she knew how to demoralize someone and intimidate them until they broke. This kid had cracked easily and least to say, this inflated her ego to the point of where it was eating itself. He raised his hand and something a scowl came over his face, he tried to remain polite to Rose but he couldn't help but be angry. The woman had boxed him into a corner and now he was going to be forced to reveal his mission. He could lie to her, but he was fairly sure that she would know about it, "Alright, you caught me, just don't shoot."

"I wasn't planning on it, you have far too many uses for me to kill you, just yet," Rose's sneer turned into a wicked smile as she inched the gun closer to the boy, "What did they tell you to do?"

He looked down in defeat, "They wanted me to follow you and motioned your movements and see if there was anything that smelled of treason against the clan, so they could use it against you."

"Ah," Rose nodded as something occurred to her, "Did you find anything?"

"You seemed to be cozy with that Billionaire, that Jacob Long person. I was going to investigate that, if that's what you wanted to know," He answered her question smoothly.

"Mr. Long and I were just conducting a bit of a business deal, and besides he's an old friend from High School," Rose lied, well she _half_ lied, but Clayton or any other member of the Huntsclan didn't need to know the whole truth at this time, especially when the Advisory Council was trying to gather evidence on her to kick her out, "That's your explanation kid and you would have found that out even if you hadn't been caught. I think you should know that while the Advisory Council has placed you and others to watch me, I have people watching them and the people that they have. I'm just as prepared as they are."

He cursed inwardly, she was right and he felt a wave of jealousy come over him at the abilities of the Huntsmistress and her foresight. If she followed standard Huntsclan Procedure, which Clayton was sure that she didn't, then she would have had caught inclination of this months ago and taken steps to neutralize it. She wasn't any mid-card Huntress with connections. She was the Huntsmistress and the odds of her hearing about the Advisory Councils actions the hour of them being taken was astronomically high. He couldn't help but wonder how long she had known, "How long have you know about it?"

"Since the moment they started to make them," Rose didn't move an inch and she didn't blink, in fact her hold on the gun solidified, "Now you are going to do exactly as I say or the following things will happen in the order that I say them. I'm going to shoot you, I will have you cut into manageable chunks, the various chunks of flesh that were once you will be delivered to your friends, family and members of the Advisory Council. Then I have the members of the Advisory Council arrested, then I will have them brought to me and I will proceed to have them tortured and killed. You and they lose, I, of course win."

Clayton regarded her patiently, "Why not just do that instead of having me do your bidding?"

"Because you're smart and I would hate to lose such lump of potential such as yourself," Rose smiled at the kid, "Do you understand my reasoning."

"I shouldn't be too egotistical in a moment like this, but I understand your reasoning master," He nodded and slowly lowered his hands, "What is it that you want me to do Mistress?"

Rose smiled, she thought that she would only be able to get him to cooperate if she threatened him a bit more, but it turned out that all she had to do was add on some empty complements and she had him in her hands. She was a master at lying, she was quite an actress and she knew how to hide her emotions behind a thick mask and if she was missing just one of those attributes, the kid would have seen some indication of glee come across her face. Finally, Rose allowed a smile to come across her face as she lowered the gun, "I want you to play them against each other, feed them false information and screw around with their heads. Have fun with it, be creative and there might be a promotion in it for you when I finally get rid of them. It's as simple as that Apprentice Dereks, all you have to do is agree to it."

"We have an agreement, Mistress," He nodded and he decided to swallow his pride and take the deal. After all, she was promising much more painful things then the Advisory Council was.

"And be aware of one last thing Clayton," Rose spoke calmly, but anyone who had a basic knowledge of emotion could hear the twinge of a threat under it, "I have eyes and ears, _everywhere_ and in _everyone_."

* * *

**Authors Note: It's really short but it's something and I'm trying to put more energy into Anything and Everything. I'm really touched that people enjoy this story! Thanks, and again I'm sorry for the length but that's where I decided to stop. When we get back, we'll check in with Jake and see what Trevor and Susan are doing. I enjoy feedback *Devil's voice* SO GIVE ME SOME! **


	16. Chapter 15 – Taking the Plunge

**Chapter 15 – Taking the Plunge **

"Alright," Jake rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance as he spoke with the Co-Chairman of his Corporate Board of Directors in his Hotel Suite, "I want you to go ahead and deal with it, but as soon as they come up with a decision you call me and tell me what they said. We already have to deal with the image that we're some how slanted to the Right-Wing. In fact you can contact the DNC and tell them they are more than welcome to use our network. But tell them that I'm not going to change our agreement with the RNC and the Republican Candidates. I'm not going to become instantly slanted to them."

The rapidly approaching Presidential Election was coming up soon and he was being courted left and right to air, broadcast and to be the best friend of all the candidates. He didn't subscribe to any side, but he was leaning towards the Republicans this cycle. But that didn't mean that he had to be blatantly biased. His personal view on it was this: the Republican's would be more beneficial for his business. The Democrats wouldn't for the simple fact that there would be regulation and oversight and more taxes up the wazoo. He hadn't told anyone this, but the frontrunner of the Republican field had promised him that he would slash taxes for all business in the country, from his to the little old grandma's apple shop in Idaho. He believed it and that's why he was leaning towards the right.

It wasn't that he was some corporate greedy fat cat. He just didn't give his employees any reason to want to unionize. He gave them medical benefits, pension and he had established a policy in the company world wide where it was a requirement to pay all employees a mandatory five percent above minimum wage of the country that they were in. Even the Janitor who would be making $8.00 an hour to clean the building at his chief competitor's headquarters was making $12.00 an hour. That was good money for a janitor. He didn't want the Government imposing the Union on his company and holding a gun to his head to pay that Janitor $100.00 an hour. In fact, the more he thought about that the more it angered him and the more he felt comfortable with taking the role of '_Greedy Fat Cat_' to stop that from happening.

His Chief Financial Officer and Co-Chairman of the Board Maxwell Stoops laughed into the receiver, "Do you want to charge them a fee like we did with the Republicans?"

"What the hell," Jake laughed at the thought and shrugged, "We're the largest Network in the world and we have a news channel on every TV in this country. It's worth $2.5 Million Dollars."

"Ok Jake," He said, they had become good friends over the years since Jake had hired him when he came on as CEO and Chairman, "Is there anything else that you want me to take care of?"

Jake sighed and sat down on the bed, he had been dreading this moment ever since he had his little conversation with Rose. It was a lot to ask in moving the Corporate World Headquarters of the Worlds Largest Broadcasting Company across an entire continent. Laying his head in his hands, he looked back up to his cellphone that was sitting on the dresser and on speakerphone, "I want to know if you'll give me your blessing in moving the Corporate World Headquarters out here to Manhattan and if you don't how long it'll take to receive your letter of resignation. If you don't want to do it then you'll have to go."

"Jake-…this is a big deal," Maxwell sputtered, his voice seemed to convey the shock that he was feeling on the other side, "…first of all, what made you want to do something like this?"

The former American Dragon chuckled sheepishly, "An issue sprang up with my family, it started when I left ten years ago and I think that I need to be around it instead of three thousand miles away."

There were several minutes that passed of tense silence, the company had enjoyed tremendous success in the past ten years not to mention stability and this move to the east coast would test that stability. He had little doubt that this move would have little affect if any on the company, but he wanted to know the opinion of his right hand in the company, "What are we going to do about Board Meetings?"

"Meet in the middle, I suppose," Jake reasoned, "Half of the members have to fly out to California to attend, we could rotate every year between San Francisco and New York."

"And what good would my function be if I didn't have constant contact with you?" He asked, and it was true, Max oversaw all of the tiniest fiscal matters and as CEO and Chairman, Jake needed to be aware.

But then the thought of the technology available to them crossed his mind, he regarded his CFO with a bit of a sarcastic snort, "You ever hear of Cell Phone or a Computer?"

"Right," Max laughed, "I guess, I'll get started on the paperwork, telling the Board and moving the right things around."

"Thanks Max," Jake smiled at the phone, "We'll speak soon."

* * *

The Movie was, least to say, morbid, but Susan Long had seen worse in her life time. She padded alongside her grandson on the sidewalk to her home with her hand on his shoulder. A nervous ball was building in the pit of her stomach. Today was going to be the day. Today was the day that Trevor was finally going to meet his father. Susan had been hoping for this day for years but it had never come and now that it had finally arrived, it seemed not as satisfying as she thought it would be. And if Jake didn't respond or turned down the invitation for dinner tonight that she was going to extend to him in just a little while, Susan was going to tell Trevor that he was back. And she didn't give a damn what her would be daughter in-law had to say about it, if she wanted to complain about it, she could say it to her father, daughter and the Dragon Council.

She ruffled the boy's brown hair and smiled down at him, "Hungry?"

His eye's lit up with adoration for his Grandmother, "Yeah, what are we having?"

"Lasagna," Susan answered as she opened the door to the house and the ten year old boy ran in.

"Sure," He nodded, "Do you want any help?"

"Yeah," The older woman smiled, "You offering?"

Trevor nodded and the older woman's smile grew bigger, "Let's get on it then."

* * *

**Authors Note: I'm sorry about that little Political Rant in the first section, but I've been venting all day and I suppose I injected that into this story as well. I head the following sentence today from a friend:**

"**They're supposed to give us **_**free**_** money, banks have all of the money, we don't have any." … -.- *Brain Explodes* **

**I have to rant to you now, I promise you that it'll be very short, so stick with me here. Not only is this the stupidest thing that I've ever heard in my life, but the very fact that this person thought that money is **_**FREE!**_** Drove me up the wall. Money, isn't free, I'm all for feeding the homeless and helping the people down on their luck and old people, possibly helping them get their medicine and see the doctor, but we have to do it if we have the cash. There are some people in this country *President Obama* Cough* who think that there is this mysterious room somewhere with tons of free cash. I want to tell these people that there is consequences for handing out cash that isn't backed up by a precious metal. AND BESIDES, THIS ISN'T THE USSR OR EAST GERMANY, YOU HAVE TO WORK FOR YOUR FUCKING MONEY IT'S NOT ALLOTED TO YOU BY THE GOVERNMENT!**

**If you want my rant on how the Republican's can govern this country better then our current President, PM me, **_**I'll share.**_

**There, I'm done :) **


	17. Chapter 16 – Two Drifters

**Chapter 16 – Two Drifters **

Trevor Long and his grandmother had taken to the task of making lasagna from scratch and he to say that he enjoyed cooking very much. It took his mind off of his concern for his mother. Since last night, she seemed distracted by something. That was normal, she was the Huntsmistress after all, but distraction to this level had never occurred with her before. Despite what his mother liked to think, he was very smart and he could read people and situations very well. He could tell easily that something big was up.

When he got back to the Huntslair, he would find out about it, even if he had to sneak around and spy on his mother. He had done it before and he was sure that she hadn't caught him. DJ easily surmised that he was the only one who could get away with it and even if she had caught him, she hadn't said a word about it, "I'm gonna make a call, just keep stirring the sauce."

He fixed his blue eyes on his grandmother and silently dissected her expression and he found that classic signs of nervousness, "Who is it?"

That should have provoked something, and he was right. There was that single look of hesitation, "Oh …no one, it's just a really important call."

"Alright," He said, he wasn't going to get anything useful from her, so he turned back to the pot of tomato sauce, "I'll just be here, stirring the pot."

* * *

As Huntsmistress, she had complete directional control over the Huntsclan and that's why she had beefed up patrol of this area with Hunters who were exclusively loyal to her. She had introduced them all to each other and instructed them to report to her any Hunter that was in his area without her express consent. It was a flimsy maneuver, but it would work.

Pulling up her sunglasses, she stood on the stoop of her son's grandmother's home and took a sharp look over her shoulder. She looked in between the buildings from across the street, the rooftops of all of the buildings across the street and she took a quick scan of the people on the sidewalk. There was nothing strange from what she could see, but then again it was simply a quick scan. Rose knew that she had to put down her fears of being watched.

She needed to be here for her son and she needed to be Rose, not Master.

Ringing the doorbell, she sighed and watched as a figure approached the door through the stain glass frame on the door. Putting a teasing smile on her face as her son opened the door, she put her hands on her hips and quirked an eyebrow at the sight of him. He was wearing an apron and it was stained with some red paste, presumably tomato sauce, "You're messy."

"At least I can cook," He shot back with a bit of smile, "You can come in."

Rose nodded and discretely looked over her shoulder before coming into the Long Home and shutting the door behind her. Putting that teasing smile back on her face, she ruffled her son's hair and looked around for Susan or possibly Haley. She didn't find anyone. She turned back to Trevor.

"Where's your grandma?" She asked suspiciously.

"Up stairs in her bedroom, she's making a call," Trevor pointed out, leading his mother back into the kitchen, "She's being real secretive about it."

"Well that's-…," She broke off in mid sentence as she realized the truth.

Trevor's own eyebrows creased, "Mom is there something wrong? Grandma got that same look on her face when I asked her who she was calling."

"Don't worry about it," Rose smiled, she hid her distress with the fact that she was almost completely sure that Susan was calling her son to come and have dinner with them, "I'm gonna go have a little chat with grandma."

Setting the spoon down on the stove, he looked curiously at his mother for a moment and then there was some pleading that came across his face. It was a look that Rose normally never said no to, but in this case, she would, Rose wasn't particularly happy for some reason. Even though she had said she would get Jake invited, there was something that was bothering her.

"Can I come?" He pleaded with her.

Rose was in mid turn before she turned back and glared at her son, rather threateningly, but she didn't want her son it hear this conversation. She pointed a finger at him, "You leave this kitchen Trevor and I'll put you in a pit with a Mother Kraken for a week, do I make myself clear little boy?"

"Yes Mother," Trevor smiled and nodded sheepishly, "No spying."

* * *

Running her hand through her graying hair, she smiled and hung up the phone, Jake had accepted. He'd be there in thirty minutes. Susan didn't tell him that his child was there but there was a reason for that and wasn't to be cruel. She didn't want her son to be nervous to the point of shaking when he arrived and if she knew Jake, he would be. But then again, she didn't know him, not anymore, and she had seen the TV Reports about him and how he had turned into a different person in these past ten years, "Susan?"

"Rose," Susan turned before setting the cellphone on her bedside table and turning to face the woman who would have been her daughter in-law in a perfect and different world, "I didn't hear you come in, when was that?"

"A few minutes ago," Rose said, shutting the door behind her and looking around, "Where's Jonathan? Is he still out of town?"

"Yeah, he'll be back the day after tomorrow," Susan reported stoically and too easily, "So did you meet up with Jake? How did things go?"

Rose offered her a scowl, "Things went fine and thank you for jumping on inviting him to this dinner. I already said I would ask you to invite him. But Susan, I get the feeling that _you're_ trying to tell my kid about his father."

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at the floor, "Well, not that he's back in town, someone has to and seeing at you haven't do-…"

"I told him that he was going to meet Trevor tonight Susan," Rose snarled at the woman, she was careful to hold her anger back tem times to what it possibly could be. Jake and frankly Trevor would be awfully mad at her if she beat the hell out of Susan, "I don't want you butting into my business Susan, your son and I are working on our relationship and we've gotten to a better place then we we're at last week. But that doesn't give you the right to do what I ought to be doing, so stay out of it, do you hear me?"

Her voice went that low, threatening tone, but Susan wouldn't have any of those threats, "You can honestly be a raging psychopath sometimes."

"No, I was a pregnant single mother who had to _go to_ a psychopath to take care of me, because the father of my child skirted off to the other side of the country to become a Billionaire," Rose poked Susan roughly in the shoulder and that sent her back slightly, "So forgive me if I'm a little bitter about it."

"He's back now," Susan answered back, "So things will be better for us."

Rose scoffed, "Jake and I may make up, but that fact still remains that I'm bitter about the way he left me. So I'm saying again, stay out of my way."

"You don't scare me," The older woman sneered at Rose, "I have my daughter, my father and my people behind me. What have you got?"

"Do you really want to play this game with me Susan? Because around a special organization of specially trained killers, I'm known as the _Huntsmistress _their _leader_ and _master_," Rose smirked and put his hands on her hips, "Not to mention the fact of my own skills, if you think that I find Haley, Lao Shi or the Dragon's at all threatening, you are sorely mistaken."

Susan sighed, "I'm still not afraid of you."

"You don't have to be Susan," Rose pulled back and reasoned, "I don't want to fight or threaten you, I'm good at both and I'll do them if I have to, but I don't want to. I just want you to but out of the business of my son."

She nodded and looked down at the floor, "Fair enough."

"Good," Rose said, "So …did he decide to come?"

Susan looked up and smiled meekly, "He did, he'll be here in a half an hour."

"And Haley?" Rose questioned.

"She's here," Haley announced from behind them.

She wore a mask of anger and it was purely directed at Rose. She had walked in at the wrong time and she just caught Rose's tirade of threats and one ups on her mother, "Rose, you better not have just threatened her."

* * *

The whole team was glued to the television as the seconds ticked down to the closing of trading for that day. _Publishing Max_ was running at a high of nearly $342.00, it not held the record for the highest stock value increase for the past decade since the dotcom boom of the late nineties. _'5…4…3…2…1…'_ Jake counted down in his mind and the very last stock quote for the day was a whooping $360.00. It was a tribute to the value of the company that in thirty seconds it jumped from $342.00 to $360.00, he had some serious celebrating to do.

He heard a cheer come from the rest of the team as the clock finally hit zero and Jake himself laughed when one of his aides popped a bottle of champagne. He felt pats on his back and his secretary Margret smiled at him and offered him a glass of champagne. Jake took it and lightly toasted the one that she held, "Here's to the success of Publishing Max, the success of NIGB and to the success that you bring to the world, Jake!"

Jake nodded and chugged the glass down quickly before smiling at her and leaning closer to her, "I've got to go to another arrangement, I want you to continue the party here and make sure everyone has a great time. You, especially deserve it because you've put up with my shit all this time."

"Thanks Jake," Margret nodded and took another sip of her glass, "See ya."

Jake nodded and headed towards the door of the conference room. For some reason, he felt like he did when he was a small kid and he had gotten a good grade on a Spelling Test, he couldn't wait to go home and tell his mother all about it. Except this time he got to go home and tell his mother that he had just made $180,000,000.

Boy had life changed for him.

And it was about to change some more.

* * *

**Authors Note: Thank you for putting up with my political rant on the last update, if it happens again, it will be short. Anyway, for those of you who are concerned about the length, is this any better? I pushed it further then I intended on this chapter so, that's my gift to you. So feedback and reviews! That would be just great! :) **


	18. Chapter 17 – Awkward

**Chapter 17 – Awkward **

Jake sighed in anticipation.

Yes – it was anticipation. That was it. That was what he was feeling. It amazed Jake, he was one of the most powerful and richest men in the entire world and he was scared shitless of a ten year old boy. Well, that ten year old boy was his and that's what scared him the most, obviously. There was nothing that he could possibly to do get out of it or to avoid it and that scared him, he had gotten so used to controlling his life and the environment around him and this was a massive shock.

He would have to rely on Rose to bail him out if he needed it and he had little doubt that she would. Trevor might be their son, but Rose knew him and she knew how to defuse a tense situation. Jake knew how to do that too, but then again, he didn't know his kid and he didn't know how he thought, "Mr. Long, do you want me to come pick you up later tonight?"

"Uh," Jake thought about it for a few seconds, "I'll give you a call, I don't know yet, I'm leaning towards no, but you never know with me."

The driver grinned, "I'll keep my phone on then."

The situation was a fuse ready to go off, Rose and Haley simply stood there, glaring at each other furiously. Rose was known to not take kindly to threats, but she had to remind herself to be slightly withdrawn when it came to Haley. Trevor and Haley were very close, as close as an Aunt and Nephew could be, but Rose and Haley were two different things. Rose hated her and she knew that Haley despised her even more.

"I wasn't threatening your mother," Rose retorted, remembering that strange little fact that she needed to be kind to the American Dragon, which was strange for the Huntsmistress to even think, "I was simply telling her that my child is my business, not hers, and it's not yours. If anything your mother threatened me and I was defending myself, so if you don't min-…"

There was a knocking at the closed door and all three heads turned to look at the noise. Susan narrowed her eyes, "Is there a problem Trevor?"

"Yes, there's a car outside and a man just got out of it, he's coming up to the door," Trevor reported nervously, Rose could read her son like a book and she could practically feel the nervousness, hell she was nervous about the meeting herself, "Do you want me to let him in?"

Rose held up a hand to both of the Long women, "Trevor, your Grandma, Aunt and I are just having some girl talk, you just let the guy in, I invited him to have dinner with us. He's completely harmless, understand?"

"Yes Mama," Trevor responded to him.

* * *

Jake shuffled nervously on the front stoop of his childhood home, he swore that if they made him wait another second, they'd have to scrape him off of the sidewalk after he had stroke. He didn't have a lot of time for this anyway, the rest of his schedule had been cleared for this night and if he was forced to stay outside all night, he'd be pissed and his assistant would probably kill him. He had to go on TV tomorrow to tout the success of the new company and he had a meeting with major shareholders, he didn't have to stand here and be stood up for a dinner with his family.

Just as he was about to turn and leave in a huff, the door opened and Jake turned to look at the person who opened it. Jake looked down to the boy and his jaw slowly dropped. The boy's bright blue eyes focused in on him and felt himself always want to flinch back in fear, "Hello?"

"I think I was invited to dinner," Jake asked slowly, it took all he _fucking_ had not to stutter, "My name's Jake, Jake Long, what's yours?"

He knew it of course, but he played dumb as he extended his hand for his son to shake. His son, his child, he still had to get used to that. When Trevor touched his hand and shook it, he could practically feel the bond that was inherently there, waiting for it to be nurtured, "Trevor, Trevor Long."

* * *

So this was his father, how strange.

Trevor honestly expected him to be shorter. He knew this was undoubtedly his father and there was something telling him that he knew that he was his son. Just in the way he looked at him. Besides, there were only a few members of the family and Trevor knew all of them. This was his Dad. This was why his mother was being so strange when she came in. The puzzle was coming quickly together in his mind.

Once his father had put his coat on the rack, he walked back into the kitchen and had his sense turned to the fact that he followed him close behind in the kitchen, "What are we having for dinner tonight?"

"Grandma's special recipe for Spaghetti," Trevor answered as he took a little taste of the sauce with a spoon, "I've known how to make it since I was six, but she never let me use the stove to actually piece it together."

Jake chuckled, "Oh yes, I remember that spaghetti, but when I was your age, Mom only cooked it every few months. Do you enjoy cooking?"

The young boy turned and offered his father a smile, he was trying to contain his nervousness and he was pretty sure that he was doing a wonderful job with it, "Yeah, I've always sort of loved it, and I never really have time for it. My mother always keeps me busy with homeschooling."

"_Homeschooling_ eh?" Jake winked and chuckled slightly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Trevor asked with a slight smile.

"As in, does Detention include battling a giant squid?" Jake asked coyly.

Trevor blinked, _he knew_? Oh, he realized, that's right, he knew all about the truth and he was a dragon, "It's actually a mother kraken. But more onto you, I heard you did pretty well on the stock market this morning."

"You know about stocks?" Jake asked, that really roused his curiosity.

"A lot actually," Trevor laughed, "I have abnormal interests for my age."

"Well, I've spent the past three days kissing the butts of every millionaire in world, telling them that they'll be billionaires if they invest with my company and it apparently paid off," Jake smiled smugly at the thought that just occurred to him, "You know it just hit me that I have possession of the two most valuable companies in the world. Wow, I'm pretty much made."

He looked over to Trevor who was looking at him in complete and utter fascination, "I have a question, and you don't have to answer it."

"I-I take it, this is going to be a difficult one," Jake realized awkwardly.

"Why did you leave Mom?" Trevor asked, looking up to him.

* * *

**Authors Note: I am so sorry, I was stuck in a rut with this thing before I went on vacation and during my vacation I was thinking of a direction to take this in and I found one. It's short, but it's something. I spent the whole time in Texas and there's nothing like two straight weeks of 115 degree weather to jog your mind.**


	19. Chapter 18 – Omen

**Authors Note: Oh! :) look at that another one within HOURS of each other. Hope you enjoy this one, things are going to get heated starting here. **

* * *

**Chapter 18 – Omen**

"I don't know," Jake said, and he was being completely honest with his son, he didn't know why he had given up Rose to this day, "From what your mother told me, she was about to tell me that she was pregnant the moment that I told her that I was going to California to take over INGB. I guess I decided that she was about to beg me to stay, I shouldn't have assumed that and it was very arrogant of me. You have no idea how b-…"

Trevor's eyes screwed up in confusion, "So the reason that this is the first time I'm meeting you is because you assumed Mom was begging you?"

"Yeah," Jake sighed and buried his head in his hands, "What more do you want me to say? I was a kid and I was a stupid kid. If it's any consolation, if I would have stayed five seconds more during that conversation, I would have blown off INGB and stayed. I can't sit around crying over spilt milk."

This time, the look on Trevor's face was akin to hope. Jake could spot that look from a mile away, "So, does this mean that you're going to stay here?"

"I will," Jake smiled and ruffled Trevor's dark hair, "I gave a call to my Board of Directors and my CFO this morning and ordered them to begin the process of moving the Corporate World Headquarters here. I also have the best Real Estate Agent in this city looking for a place for me to live."

"You're not going to live with Mom and I?" Trevor asked.

Jake leaned back in his chair and laughed, "As much as I'd like that, your mother and I are still working on our relationship and I don't think that I'd be very welcome in the Huntslair. Not that they knew my identity, I was fairly confident that your Mom keep all knowledge of me suppressed."

"That's right," Rose's soft voice said from the kitchen entrance as she began to walk to the other side of the rectangular table, "As far as everyone is concerned, the American Dragon has always been your sister. I've taken every fathomable step to conceal your very existence from the Huntsclan."

Jake looked up to the mother of his child as she took the chair in front of him, "Thanks for that Rose, you have no idea how great its been to not have the Huntsclan in my life for that past few years. But yes, Trevor I plan to stay. Everything else is a bridge we can cross when we come to it."

Trevor nodded and looked back to his mother, "Where are the others?"

"Your Aunt Haley and Grandma are having a little discussion," Rose said.

"Haley's here?" Jake said, pivoting his head to look back at the stairs.

Rose nodded, "She's anxious to meet you and all."

"I'm sure," Jake reflected and looked down to the surface of the table at which he had eaten most of his meals when he was growing up, "I've had something of an intense afternoon, incase you're wondering about it all."

The Huntsmistress spied him with an amused glance, "What went on?"

"Publishing Max stock is worth over three hundred dollars," He folded his hands over the table, "I, myself, got a cash capital return of $120 Million Dollars, so I think I've done pretty well for myself. What do you think?"

Rose looked to Trevor, "What does, Capital Return mean?"

"It means the amount of money that he'll get back from the stock that he had invested in this company," Trevor said confidently and then he turned and looked at his father was a questioning look, "That's what the means?"

Jake nodded, "That's essentially what it means, yes."

"That's excellent, maybe you can buy me a house," Rose teased him.

"You want me to buy you a house?" Jake asked seriously.

"No, I was-…" She was cut off by Jake.

"Cause I can, I'll drive out to the Hamptons and buy you the biggest house on Long Island," Jake said leaning forward on the table, "I know you-…"

Rose smiled and waved him down, "I was kidding, I know you're a Billionaire and one day I might take advantage of that. How much do you make?"

"Last year I took in $250 Million Dollars," Jake smiled, normally others wouldn't even broach what they made or brag about it in some cases, Jake wasn't one of those people. He loved telling people about it, "This year I'm expected to take in more. Do you want to know how much money I have?"

The Huntsmistress rolled her eyes, she knew this answer. She just wanted to give her son a little taste of what his father was like. She didn't mind that, but this was a good insight into the mind of Jake Long, even when he wasn't a Billionaire, "Wow, I am actually curious for you to tell me."

"$25 Billion Dollars," Jake answered smugly.

What happened next brought Rose's heart leaping, she watched as her son practically jump on Jake and wrap him arms around his neck, "Daddy."

She and Jake chuckled, from now on, life would be …interesting.

The sound of her cellphone ringing broke what was perhaps the first moment that they had with a family. She growled for a moment and then smiled patiently up at Jake and her son and proceeded to get out of her chair and walk out of the kitchen. With a sigh, she reached into her pocket and looked at the number. It was her _assistant_, the one that she had assigned to keep an eye on the council. Growling, she pressed the receiver and held it up to her ear, "What do you want? I told you to not call me unless necessary."

"Mistress, your quarters were just broken into," Her assistant said.

Her eyes widened, "The Huntsboy's Quarters?"

"That's the thing, everything in his quarters was overturned, hell, it was torn apart," The other woman reported, "The only thing that was touched in your quarters was your personal database, it looks as if someone cloned your hard drive for your computer. We're having the documents looked over."

Sighing, Rose ran her free hand through her hair, "My son's room, I want you to comb through it and make sure that all of his schedules, itineraries and personal information are there and even if they, change them. Trevor isn't safe in the Huntslair. I might be a little late tonight. I'm going to take him somewhere safe. I want you to guard my office, do you understand."

"Yes Mistress," The assistant said, before Rose hung up the phone.

She sighed and slipped it back into her pocket, this day just kept upping the ante on her. Rose made her mind up then and their, Trevor wouldn't be coming anywhere near the Huntslair for the next few days while she sorted everything out. Someone was going to die when she got back to the Huntslair. Turning back, she knew that Trevor was going stay with his father.

At least for the next few days.


	20. Chapter 19 – Responsibilities

**Chapter 19 – Responsibilities **

Rose didn't want to impose, she truly didn't, and though it was clear that Trevor did want to spend time with his father, she felt that Trevor wouldn't be prepared for it. Don't get her wrong, she was happy that her son was finally getting a chance to bond with his father. However, she raised the boy for his entire life and she supposed she was just jealous that they were getting along just like that. Maybe, Jealousy wasn't the word that was looking for. It was more of a surprise. She was _surprised_ that they hit it off like that.

"I've always wanted to look in on a board meeting," She heard Trevor gush, and she had to suppress a laugh, Jake must getting giddy with all of the things that they could do together, "I can't imagine all of the power that a Chairman must wield over all of those other super rich people. It must inflate your ego to the point where it's eating itself."

She heard Jake laugh, "I find them rather boring, I mean when I took INGB public, I knew that we'd have to have meetings every week. I tried it for one month, and then I decided that I would only attend once a month and leave the Vice Chairman there."

What the hell were they talking about? And how did Trevor know all of that shit.

"How do you get away with that? I mean, if one of the Board Members decided to leave, he or she could write a book and say that you were a bad chairman and ruin your reputation," Trevor sounded as if his father was insane and it made her laugh.

Apparently with Jake as well, his deep chuckle followed hers stifled giggle, "I've actually had that problem, about five years ago. The CEO of Disney was on my board, he actually bought enough share to do that, so that he could get close to me and get Disney a good package deal to air their programming. It was sort of a quid pro quo thing and I wouldn't have it. I told him that I would buy him out for $50 Million Dollars, or, as Chairman, I would personally kick him off of the board. He threatened me with writing a book telling all about how I ran my company. I told him, that when he signed on as a Board Member, he signed a confidentiality agreement. If he broke it, I would then in turn, proceed to sue him and then innate a hostile takeover of the Disney Corporation."

"That's rad! What did he do?" Trevor looked at his father with admiration.

"He sold his shares to me for $50 Million, my original offer, under the promise that I would never buy the Disney Corporation while he was running it. He retired last year and I'm looking into buying it," Jake smirked to himself, "Trevor, I have a way of covering my behind, just offer them a pile of cash or threaten to sue them. It'll work out."

"I want to do that, I wish I wasn't stuck in the Huntsclan," The ten year old looked, well, disappointed for a moment. Jake, looking at his son with concern, wished that he didn't have to be involved in the Huntsclan. Rose would never allow that, at least not a first.

'_Note to self: pick at Rose until she get's Trevor away from the Huntsclan'_ Jake thought.

Jake patted the boy's shoulder, "I'm sure that there will always be a place at INGB if you want it, when you get a little older. But you shouldn't completely down on the life that your mother has raised you in. As much as I completely hate it, and as much as I'd like to see the Huntsclan completely dismantled and destroyed, it's still one half of your heritage. But when you're with me, you can always come and work with me."

Now was her moment to enter the conversation, Jake was wrong in a sense, she would love to see her son get out of the Huntsclan, but there was nowhere else to go. The Dragon's would never truly accept him, and she lived in the Huntslair, therefore, it was the only place Trevor could go, that was until Jake showed up. Jake had vast resources to keep Trevor safe. He had $25 Billion Dollars in the bank. From what she had heard, not that she followed Jake's life. He also had at least $10 Billion Dollars worth of Stock in the NYSE and around the world. He was also the head of the two most valuable corporations in the world. Money was no object to Jake. That was what was needed to keep Trevor safe and for the time being, Rose needed to keep Trevor with Jake.

"Trevor," Rose said, returning to the place she had been before the phone call, "It appears that something has gone down at the Huntslair and you are going to need to be out of there for a few days. I don't want you around it. So here are your options, you can stay here with Grandma and Grandpa, or, if you're father can have it, with him."

Both Jake and Trevor's eyes seemed to widened, mystified at that statement. Jake nodded slowly, "Yeah, I've got the Presidential Suite at the Waldorf Astoria. You can come with me for a few days. I've got a hot tub in my suite, Flat Screen TV, full mini-bar, and big cushy beds. It's a lot more interesting than staying at Grandma's house."

"Yeah! I'd love to stay a few nights with you!" Trevor practically jumped out of his seat.

Rose smiled and patted her son on the shoulder, "Why don't you go get Grandma and Aunt Haley, and bring them down so they can all visit with your father?"

"Ok," Trevor nodded and bolted out of his chair, out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

Once she made sure that he was safely out of earshot, she turned back to Jake and a look of seriousness came to her face, "Look – I'm facing something of a little internal power struggle in the Huntsclan and a few minutes ago, My quarters, as well as Trevor's were ransacked. I think that they are coming after him to get to me and that's why I need you to take him for a few days and keep your eyes on him at all times. If a Hunter tries to pull something, you have my blessing to tear the little shit's throat out for attempting it."

"What about you?" Jake asked, Trevor was one thing, but Rose was another.

"Don't worry about me," Rose smiled and winked at him, "You know how I am, I'm sort of an Eagle, you know. I'm gentle and peaceful to look at, but mess with one of my chicks and I'll use my razor sharp talons to rip your fucking eyes out. Someone, who should be my servant, is threatening my child, and I'm gonna spend my time looking for the prick."

Jake nodded, "Don't worry, I haven't used my Dragon Powers in years, but if anyone tries to get near him, I will go medieval on them and probably rip their eyes out with my _actual_ large, point claws. I'm just going to in a telephone meeting tomorrow, I have the whole day."

"Good," Rose said and motioned to the stairs, with her acute hearing, she could hear the slightest noise and she knew that Trevor, Susan and Haley were coming, "I'll give you a call sometime tomorrow, let you know of my progress, does that sound good?"

Jake nodded and turned back to the doorway and to his mother and sister.

He grinned, cheekily at the both of them, "Miss Me?"


	21. Chapter 20 – Attempted Hostile Takeovers

**A/N: This chapter is different in the sense that it's the first one that separates from the main plot. It's really a side story and will later (or very soon) be Jake's issue that he has to deal with. Conversely Rose's issue is the break in into her quarters and the attempted Coup of her as Huntsmistress. The next chapter will be similar expect it's the antagonist to Rose that will be introduced. You're going to meet the main antagonist to Jake in this chapter. Now it's filled with a bunch of corporate mumbo-jumbo, so I'm warning you, expect a lot of it. **

**Chapter 20 – Attempted Hostile Takeovers**

Maxwell Stoops was on a mission.

That morning, after he had told the board of Jake's decision to move the Corporate World Headquarters to New York, half of them were in an open state of revolt. There were fourteen members of the International and National General Broadcasting Corporate Board of Directors. Twelve of them were standard members, millionaires and billionaires who had purchased enough shares to be elected to the Board. The last two were Jake and himself, they served as Chairman and Co-Chairman respectively.

Six of the standard members of the Board had openly told him their plans to liquidate their stock and leave the Company. That was bad. If they liquidated their stock instead of selling it hand to hand with another person, that meant that they were going to dump it onto the stock market and inflate everything from the Stock Price to Stock Demand and he couldn't allow that to happen. Eventually everything that was inflated would have to deflate and when INGB's stock deflated, they would have some trouble.

Those six rebellious members had some $29 Billion Dollars invested in the company and he didn't want to imagine what would happen if the company lost that all at once.

So he was offering them three choices:

The first was the easiest one to get done. Jake and he would buy the stock at face value and order the member to leave. No questions asked and no hard feelings. The odds of doing this were astronomical, Max new most of these men and women and he knew that they were going to put up a fight.

The second was a little harder. He and Jake held eighty percent of voting power on the Board for emergency situations like this. That meant that if they agreed on something, they could overrule the other twelve members. If the rebellious members of the Board didn't want to go, Jake and he would forcibly remove their stock and buy them out. He knew that they would have to go this route with at least two of the members.

The third was the drastic, but he and his army of attorneys were willing to go there if need be. Jake and he would proceed to buy the stock from the rebellious members and enact the confidentiality clause in their contracts, less they risk a lawsuit, and if they didn't do that, he and Jake would remove them from the board and ban them from Share Holders conventions, making their existing stock worthless.

If they did the first one, they'd get their money and be happy. The second would give them their money back but they'd painfully be removed. The third involved them getting into a massive legal war with the world's most powerful publishing and broadcasting international conglomerate. They'd be complete fools to go up against the company.

It made Max chuckle, he couldn't wait.

Gripping the thick stack of files that he had made for the meeting, he marched quickly into the Board Room. He had been authorized to work on Jake's behalf. Jake only attended these meetings once a month, so for all intents and purposes he acted as Chairman more than Jake did and he knew how to handle these people. Don't get him wrong, Jake knew how to handle them too, but _he_ had spent nearly seven years with the Board of Directors and he could wrangle them, "Ladies and Gentleman of the Board, thank you for coming to us all quickly. Now, I'm aware of the complaints that you have made clear to the Chairman and I, and we've prepared a response. In these folders are copies of your contracts that you signed when you were brought onto this board. The second thing is a legal gag order, barring you from saying anything to the media that happens in this room or we will sue your pants off. The last thing is your list of choices."

He looked quickly to all twelve of their faces, each of them contorted into shock as their eyes danced over the words, "As you can see, if you want to leave, Mr. Long and I will personally buy your stock back at face value and you can leave peacefully. The other two options will involve canceling out your stock and kicking you our or buying the stock back at a lesser value. And keep in mind, we do have an army of lawyers to fight back against your attacks and we are prepared to sue you, if you cause trouble."

"Mr. Long wouldn't be so foolish," Donald Wilson, the senior member of the Board said with a smirk as he closed the folder. Max sighed inwardly, Donald were would be the problem would be. He had personally directed the best group of Lawyers in the company's army of hundreds of them to have their eyes trained on Donald and to be ready to pounce on him.

"You wouldn't be so foolish to oppose this Donald, might I remind you that you are only a Board Member, you have no role or physical control over this company," Max said, walking from his place at the head of the table and making his way to walk behind them all and around the table, "I will remind all of you that none of you have a physical role, that's the policy that Mr. Long and I approved of not allowing executives to be on this Board of Directors. It was conceived because of events like this."

He smiled at that tension, "Rest assured, if any of you attempt to make a move on us, either Mr. Long or myself, we have given orders to direct all of the legal and public relations resources of every single company that INGB owns or has influence over to completely and utterly destroy you."

"That's funny," Donald mocked the boy, Donald was in his early seventies and Max was only in his thirties, so it was appropriate to say that, "Because I have a surprise for you, five of my fellow board members have elected to take your first option before you delivered it to us. Expect they won't be selling the stock to you or Mr. Long. They will be selling it to me. That means by tomorrow afternoon, I will be the second most powerful man-…"

Max growled and leaned forward, "You wouldn't dare."

"I would dare, it is already done," Donald shrugged, "Well when the market opens tomorrow, it will be done. Oh, and I wouldn't be going and revoking the large amount of stock, it's worth about $29 Billion, it would be a massive hit."

He was right. It appeared that by tomorrow, he wouldn't be in these meetings anymore. He would lose his job as Co-Chairman, but he would still be CFO of the company and he would still be able to get one back over on the son of a bitch. But that's what wasn't concerning him.

It was the fact that Jake had only $19 Billion worth of stock in the company, which meant that Jake would lose his title of Chairman of the Board to Don. This wouldn't be pretty. Not at all and he had to tell Jake now and formulate what they were going to do. Gritting his teeth, he glared at the five traitors members of the board, "You five know what this means? You are all in television and entertainment and I can pretty much fucking guarantee you that you will never be able to broadcast or publish or produce in most of the civilized world ever again. You are all pretty much fucked."

He growled and turned to the other six members who were scowling openly in disgust at the other five, "You six, I need to speak with you all, otherwise, we are adjourned until the next meeting."

* * *

"WHAT!" Jake screamed, pulling at his hair tightly.

With his scream, all of the heads in the dining room behind him turned to him in shock and surprise. When Maxwell had called him, he had a feeling that it was going to be bad and oh man was he right. Donald Wilson had convinced five of the Board Members to sell their shares to him, which gave him complete control of the Board. This was not good, not good at all. By tomorrow afternoon, Donald Wilson would have a controlling stake in INGB.

"He backed us into a corner," Maxwell sighed, "But the good news, you only need eleven Billion to top him. The other six members of the Board have offered to sell you enough of their shares to give you back controlling interest, as well as my position as Co-Chairman. But it will take a few days and in that time, we need to make sure that we have operating control."

Operating Control was a word that Jake and he had invented that meant that in the event that they were outbid in control of the Board of Directors, that they would retain all controls of company operations, "Alright, you're the CFO, you restrict his access to all financial records and bank accounts, assets and networths. While you're at it, you keep my office locked up, and you restrict my files as Chairman under the clause of it being Financial."

"He might have the crown, but he doesn't have the keys to the castle," Max realized what they were going to do. Donald might own half of the house, but Jake and he were going to lock the doors and swallow the keys to the doors that he owned until they could get control back, "Anything else?"

He turned to his family and he didn't care if he was irate, or angry, or for that matter cursing, "I want every single thing that those five fuckers, who gave their shares to Donald, made, off of the air _right now_. I want all of their contracts torn up, I want you to cancel every single project and I want you to ban them from INGB Owned Networks and Publishing Max presses and websites. I don't want to hear hell or high water about them. They want to fuck with me, I'll ruin them. Do you think that you can do that?"

"I'll go set their contracts on fire," Max smiled, "I thought you should know."

"Thank you for calling me," Jake reaffirmed, "Just make sure you give my thanks to the other members who are willing to sell me some of their shares to take back the Board. I really appreciate this, you know that Max?"

"Relax, I just want one thing," Max chuckled.

"And what is that? A raise?" Jake asked sarcastically.

"Just make me Co-Chairman when you get the Board Back." Max chuckled.

"Will do," Jake sighed, he felt his heart beating wildly and he could have sworn that what he was feeling felt like a stroke, "I'll talk to you in the morning."

He hung up his phone and slipped it's back into his pocket. When she slowly leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen, he sighed as Rose's voice suddenly perked up, "What's going on Jake?"

"Uh," He turned and smiled at he, "I think about to have a stroke. I just found out that five members of my Board of Directors just sold their shares to one of my Board Members. $29 Billion Dollars worth and-…"

"And you're going to have a stroke?" Haley questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Jake nodded and looked at his sister, "Yeah, I think I will, because for the moment, I only have $19 Billion worth of shares. Care to tell them what that means Trevor?"

"It means that this person now has controlling ownership of the company and he is no longer Chairman of the Board," Trevor parroted quietly.

Jake nodded, "Which means, that I'm going to be very cunning for the next few days to somehow get my hands on $11 Billion worth of shares to get control back. Which means that I won't have a lot of free time as it were."


	22. Chapter 21 – Know Your Enemy

**A/N: One more chapter of business mumbo-jumbo as we explore Donald Wilson's past. I'm sorry if you don't understand it, and I try explaining it in these chapters, but I don't try hard enough. Just go along with the technical jargon, I'm not going to test you. And it's a critical part of the story, so it will never stop, but it won't be mentioned as much in certain places. Oh, and I don't own the names of these companies, nor the companies themselves. I'm just using them for fictional purposes, so don't sure me for copyright infringement. **

**Chapter 21 – Know Your Enemy**

Jake's mind was racing with his options on what to do about Donald.

Donald Wilson was one of the richest men in the world and he was one of the most well known business men in the world. He had a keen business intellect that had taken him to the top of five international business empires and at one time and had him the most powerful business man in the world.

He had begun his career at the stock investment firm, Berkshire Hathaway, as a simple broker. In the twenty years that he was employed there, he learned the tricks of the trade by some of the most legendary people in the Corporate World. Among his mentors was the current Richest Man in the world, Warren Buffet. Donald and Warren had been competitors at one time and for a while, Donald and Warren controlled Berkshire Hathaway. Warren had bought Donald out sometime in the mid 1970s for $800 Million Dollars.

From there Donald went on to become the CEO of the third most powerful Media Conglomerate in the world, Viacom. He had run that company for ten years and had eventually gained control as Chairman as well. It was from that point that Donald had become a multi-billionaire. He was forced out of the Chairmanship and quit as CEO after ten solid years and it wasn't the end. From what Jake could gather about his new temporary "Chairman" of the Board, he had played around in the Stock Market for another decade.

That had come to an end when Jake took INBG onto the Stock Market around ten years ago. After three days of having the company on the Stock Market, Donald bought about $8 Billion Dollars worth of Stock. Jake happily allowed him onto the board and asked him into an advisory role. For six years, Jake learned from Donald. In a way, Donald, along with several other titans of the media industry taught him how to run the business. But that ended four years ago when he made an alarming discovery.

He had been at his home, going over his personal finances and his stock portfolio. He had received a stock list of the Board of Directors and there stock status. Jake had the highest amount at $14 Billion Dollars and that granted him controlling interest and the chairmanship. The second was Maxwell Stoops with $10 Billion and that allowed him to be Co-Chairman of the Board and Jake brought him on as CFO. But the third was alarming. The third name had been gradually increasing his stock by sums of a quarter of a million stocks each year. Donald Wilson, $10 Billion and third shareholder.

Jake had immediately purchased $5 Billion Dollars worth of Stock and he had advised Max to do the same. That had put off the threat of Donald taking half of his company away from him. Jake had summarily distanced himself from Donald and kept him away. It had worked for a few years, but he had let his guard down and then he was now about to lose about half of his control of his company. It was HIS company, it was founded by HIS grandmother, HE built it into a multi-billion dollar conglomerate, and he would be damned if he was going to be taken over by some fossil.

"How long will it take?" Jake asked his private banker.

"Two weeks to move the appropriate funds to your broker and then you can apply it to what you want to invest it in," The man responded, he had been Jake's private banker for years and he was extremely loyal to him, he only wished that he had the money to help his client, "I'll work day and night to get this moved as quickly as possible, I can't believe that this happened."

Jake smiled fondly and looked back to his child who was eating some pie that his mother had served him, "I'll get the Board back, I've already directed my lawyers and my accountants to keep him out of everything, he'll a chairman in name only. There is nothing to worry about."

"Have you alerted the press?" He asked.

Jake sighed and shook his head, "Not at the moment, when the stock deal goes down, I'll send out a press release. I've made sure that it doesn't suggest that I plan on giving Donald the Chairmanship permanently. Look, I've got to go, I'll talk with you more tomorrow, that sound good?"

"Yeah," He said, "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Bye," Jake hung up his phone and put it into his pants pocket.

"Are you sure that you can take Trevor?" Rose asked, surprising him.

Jake jumped slightly and turned around with a smile, "Yeah, he seems really interested in business and he can learn a few things. I'm really going to be doing nothing in the next few days expect pulling together a few billion."

"How about a loan?" Rose asked with a quirked eyebrow.

The business man in him laughed his ass off at that prospect, but the teenager in him, who was still madly in love with the woman took over him and caused him to smile, "I can't ask you for a lone, it wouldn't help and it wouldn't do well for you to take a few hundred million Dollars from the front Company. I can't imagine the explanation that you'd have to give."

"Alright," Rose smiled and then sat down on the couch, "Let me rephrase this then, if I were to give you, say … a billion dollars of my own money, and I went to my stock broker tomorrow and he invested it in your company, would that gain me a spot on your board?"

Jake's eyes widened for a moment and after one single confused blink, his face contorted into a grin, "You want to join my Board of Directors?"

"Yeah," Rose nodded with a smile, "You seem like you need help there."

"No offence Rose, but you seem to have no business sense whatsoever, I mean your front company is ran by other people, you just own it," Jake scratched the top of his head, "Why would I need you on my board?"

"For the intimidation factor," She grinned, "Also, I'd blindly vote for whatever you wanted me to vote for, no matter what the case."

Jake looked long and hard at her, she had a point. With the people who gave their stock to Donald, there would be many spots to fill and he could easily fill one with Rose. He had six members of the Board already extremely loyal to him, he had his Co-Chairman and if he had Rose, there would be no one who could actually stop him. Crossing his hands together, he leaned back in the chair and smiled at her, "If you were to do that, you need to do it quickly. I mean quickly, Donald made his intentions to buy that stock at 12:00, and the markets open around five. I say again, if you plan on doing that, you need to practically camp out in front of your broker's office."

"And if I do buy that stock?" Rose asked with a mischievous smile.

"Then I'll be Chairman just long enough to put you onto the Board and then for a few days we'll be Board Members together," Jake smiled, "Then after I force Donald out of my company, I'll be your chairman, in a sense, your boss."

Rose rolled her eyes, "Oh joy."


	23. Chapter 22 – Evading a Coup

**Chapter 22 – Evading a Coup**

Rose dusted imaginary lint off her pants and sighed, it was now time for her to leave and to return to the Huntslair. Running her hand through her hair, she smiled down at her son with an amused glint in her eyes. He seemed so happy, so overjoyed to be around his father. Rose couldn't help but feel some of it too. It was also a very good thing that he was around his father at the moment, she had numerous and very dangerous things to do back at the Huntslair. Jake would keep Trevor safe for the moment, "So, are you ready?"

"Yeah!" Trevor nodded with an amazing amount of excitement.

She smirked and slapped her sides then, "Well, if you're ready to spend some time with your father then I won't keep you any longer. I'll give you a call in the morning, but you might have to stay with your father for a time."

"Oh," Trevor laughed for a moment, "I think I'm okay with that."

"Good," Rose said simply and then looked over at Jake. She smiled and approached him rather gracefully. She didn't know what their relationship was at the moment, but if she got her way, it would the way that it was before Jake left for California. With time anyway, it would be that way.

Rising up, she gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, "I'll see you around."

"You'll give me a call?" Jake whispered to her.

Rose nodded, "Keep both of your eyes on him."

"I will," He nodded once.

The Huntsmistress nodded, before pulling herself away from Jake, waving to Haley and Susan and then looking back to her son. She knelt down to see him at eyelevel before giving him another kiss on the cheek, "I love you."

Trevor hugged her tightly and smiled before giving her a kiss on the cheek as well, "I love you too Mom, and don't worry, I'll be fine with Dad."

"Okay," Rose nodded with a smile, "I know you will."

* * *

When she shut the door of the Long Home behind her, she sighed and reached into her pocket. She was going to have a busy night, and she needed to get it done tonight if she was going to go to her stock broker in the morning. Dialing her assistant's number, Rose began to walk down the sidewalk, holding her phone in her other hand. She ignored the fact that it was 9:00 at night in Downtown New York. If someone fucked with her, they would learn a lesson that it was not okay to fuck with the Mistress of the Huntsclan. She rolled her eyes when her assistant picked up, "Yes Mistress?"

"What have you found?" Rose commanded.

"We've collected fingerprints from you're quarters," The younger woman reported, "We've ran them against the master database and we've come up with a few names. We've also accomplished those changes to the Huntsboy's itinerary and security as you requested. What do you want to do with this?"

"Are any of the names on the council?" Rose asked, her walk turning to a pace. She knew she would get there no faster if she ran, so she suddenly slowed down, "Because if that's the case, I want you to prepare my big guns."

"Three of them are from the council. The other two sets of prints we found are on our confirmed list of traitors," The assistant said, "I'll put the two other Hunters under surveillance, they won't leave this base unless you say so."

Rose smirked, "Prepare the biggest gun that I have, and I want you to make sure that those-…I want all of the Council Members in my office. I'm going to put an end to this tonight, and after you have them all secured in my office, I want you to begin to find appropriate replacements. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Rose could pretty hear the other woman's smile, "I will do that."

* * *

There was a slight breeze as she entered the climate controlled interior of the Huntslair. When she walked in, she was met by at least a dozen Hunters and her assistant. Looking into the younger woman's hand, she saw her large Desert Eagle handgun with a cylindrical silencer on top of it. Rose smiled and stepped forward and then she gently gripped the handle that was outstretched to her in her servant's hand. Rose examined the barrel.

"Where are they?" Rose asked, not looking from the gun.

"In your office," The assistant reported, with a bit of grin on her face, "They're hogtied and they don't have a chance of escaping. I've also got constant, but subtle guard on all of the others. Do you want someone to go in there with you?"

Rose smirked lazily, "No, this is something that I have to do."

The Huntsmistress cocked the gun and marched off in the direction of her office. This would end the power struggle. The reason Rose hadn't just did this before was because she feared a backlash and she feared that her son would get caught up in it. But Jake had him right now, and that meant Trevor was very safe. She could do what she needed to do right. Crushing the pests that wanted to harm her and her son was going to be the first on her to-do list.

* * *

Closing the door behind her, she looked down to the eight bodies that were hogtied and placed on their fronts. There grunts of discomfort and fear were music to Rose's ear. Rose didn't like to hear that noise out of anyone other than her enemies and these eight men were very much her enemies.

"Hello Gentlemen," Rose said with a bit a wry smile, "We have to talk."

* * *

**A/N: Hey Guys! This will be the last update with this story, FOR A LITTLE WHILE. I'm going to be outputting more energy into my other stories, and real life is getting in the way somewhat.**


	24. Chapter 23 – Partner In Crime

**Chapter 22 – Partner In Crime**

Pulling on the edge of her blouse, Rose stepped over the first Councilmember, placed the barrel of her gun at the back of the man's head and promptly pulled the trigger of the gun. It less than a fraction of a half a second, the bullet exited her gun and entered the man's skull. The bullets in her gun were designed to explode on impact, so along with the fact that half of the man's skull was on the ground, the bullet imploded in his brain. She smirked and moved onto the next trembling man.

"Councilmember Heaney – I recall that you wanted to do that to me for years. Well, I'm beating you to the punch. You crossed a line when you ordered my quarters to be broken into. Do you have any last words before I kill you?" Rose mocked before pressing the barrel of the gun into the back of the man's head. Heaney was the head of the Council effectively, and he had been the thorn on Rose's side for years.

"Have mercy, I know that you have it in your being, Mistress." He cried to her.

In fact, tears were following freely down the man's face and with that Rose promptly through her head back in a maniacal fit of laughter. She leaned down and pressed the gun tightly into his skin, "There is no mercy in me for traitors like you."

With that, she promptly shot him in the back of the temple. Rose pulled back and grimaced at the particles of brain and skull that found their way onto her blouse. It took her a moment to run a hand down her stomach and toss the matter off of herself. Leaning down, she wiped her hands off on the back of the dead man's shirt with an annoyed movement. Growling, she kicked the back of the man's open skull.

"You messy prick," Rose growled and moved onto the third one.

* * *

"Yeah," He said into his phone, trying not to wake up his sleeping son, who was sitting in the seat next to him, "Once I have word that she's actually purchased the stock. I'll want a video conference with the entire board. I'll be dismissing the members that sold their stock to Donald and installing you, myself and Rose onto that Board and reduce the size of it to 13. That way, I'll have Rose, you and myself and Members that are only loyal to me. That'll give me the possibility of actually voting Donald off of the Board if this stock transfer takes too long to complete."

Maxwell Stoops, who was still up coordinating what they were going to do to keep Donald out of all aspects of the business as possible, "I'll schedule the meeting, and I'll be sure to schedule it right at the time that you requested. I'm curious though Jake, how do you know this woman, you speak of her as if you've known her for-…"

"I've known her since Junior High School," Jake said with a bit of a chuckle.

"You seem happy about that?" Maxwell asked.

Jake laughed and scratched the back of his head, "I'm very happy to see her, and to prove my point: I'm as happy as Santa Claus, on Prozac, getting laid at Disneyland."

He had to struggle to push a laugh of his own back when he heard Maxwell's reaction to his little analogy. Maxwell was truly his best friend and the most loyal employee that he could ever ask for. Jake had specifically picked Max for his personality and his aptitude to be ruthless to his business enemies. Since then they had grown to be the closest of friends and Jake completely trusted him to assist him in the affairs of running the company. If there was anyone that would follow him into Corporate Hell and back, it was Mr. Maxwell Stoops, "I want to meet her."

"You will," Jake chuckled and looked over to his son who was suddenly away now and looking at him with a cheeky grin on his face, "Look, I'll give you a call in the morning, I have a busy day tomorrow. I'm gonna be spending it with my family and looking for some places to live. And after the Board Meeting, I'll be considering if I should move the Corporate World Headquarters into our existing location or a new building. I hear that a whole new Building opened up near Rockefeller Center."

"I'll begin looking over the possibilities if you want me too?" Maxwell offered.

Jake nodded, "Alright, I'll talk to you in the morning Max."

"Likewise," And without any further conversation, Maxwell hung up the phone.

Setting his phone next to him, he looked down at Trevor, "What's up Bub?"

"Who was that?" Trevor asked, rubbing his eyes.

"My Chief Financial and Operating Officer Maxwell Stoops," He said, "He's sort of my right hand, he's the person that I send to terrify my competitors before I swoop in and initiate a hostile takeover. He's the Anti-Christ and I'm Satan, understood?"

Trevor chuckled, "Fascinating analogy, Dad. That also clears it up."

"Yeah well, I was just telling him that I wanted to get a emergency Board Meeting together in the morning," He smiled mischievously, "I promised your Mother that I wouldn't tell you, but you'll find out anyway. She's going to by 1 Billion Dollars worth of Stock and get a seat on my Board. I'll install her on in the morning."

Trevor was silent for a moment. He was contemplating what that meant. This could turn into something big for Trevor. It would also mean that he would have both his father and his mother with him and that prospect excited him. All of his life, he yearned for both of his parents and now that he had them both, it made him completely giddy. His face broke out into a wide grin, "Mom, a Board Member."

"I know," Jake's face cracked into a wide grin, "Tu Madre es loca."

"You can speak Spanish too, wow," Trevor reflected, "What does that mean?"

"It means that your mother is crazy," Jake grinned and winked at the boy.

* * *

**Grand Cayman Bank – Los Angeles California**

"So you'll give me the loan that I need to increase my share holdings?" Donald asked. He had made the trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles just for this specific issue. Donald was cashing in an old favor from the owner of the Grand Cayman Bank, Henry Donatella. This bargain was technically illegal, but how could he get caught doing this. Henry wouldn't screw himself like that, neither would himself.

Henry nodded and beckoned Donald to follow him into the central vault in their banking complex. Punching in his personal security code and running through the intense security procedures that opened up the vault. He turned and smiled at Donald, "You realize of course that if you or INGB can't repay this cash, I'm screwed. With this deal, I'm loaning you most of the cash in this vault."

"Don't worry," Donald assured him with the wave of a hand, "With this loan, I can acquire 51% percent of the voting power on the board and the only way that I won't be able to secure your repayment is if the rest of the Board outvotes me."

"I highly doubt that Jake Long will take this on the chin," Henry commented idly as he watched the steel doors begin to pull back and expose the vault, "I know how the structure is over there, all of the executive branch and Chief Executives are loyal to him. And he has been taught by the most ruthless minds in this industry, they will allow you to be Chairman of the Board, but in name only. No more."

Donald stared long and hard at him, "I have forty years on that kid, he may be one hell of a businessman, but he doesn't know everything that I know. You may be right Henry, I might be only a Chairman in name only for awhile, but I will find a way to gain control of that company. INGB is a prize that I will not give up easily."

When the steel doors finally opened and exposed the large vault complex with a rush of air, Henry and Donald smiled and walked in. There was nothing in the world like the smell of fresh money to two Billionaires. Donald walked over to one of the large, meticulously organized, large stacks of cash and picked up one of the banded stacks. Holding the stack of money up to his ear and running his finger up the side of it, he loved that sound, "With this Henry, we will become very, very rich."

* * *

Jake put a hand on Trevor's shoulder and patted it as they entered the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria. He looked down to the sense of perpetual wonder on his child's face and he could easily remember the first time that he was exposed to this lifestyle and the first time that that look came over his face because of it. This was a moment that Trevor would remember for the rest of his life, it was the moment that he became the child of Jake Long, the Billionaire Tycoon and not just the child of the Huntsmistress, "Trevor, this man's name is Eric. He'll be your bodyguard."

For a moment, Jake saw a flash of Rose within the boy's crooked smile, "No offence Dad, but do you really think that I need a body guard?"

Eric was a tall, bulky man. He was that typical cliché image of a body guard, with the black suit or trench coat and the stoic look on his face. His job was to follow around Jake and to take down the people who might want to accost him or get close to him without his permission. Jake was in agreement with his son. Neither of them needed a bodyguard. He almost laughed off the idea when the security firm that worked for INGB suggested it, but then reality set in and it wouldn't look good for him to transform into a Dragon and protect himself. The same thing could be applied to Trevor as well. It wouldn't do well for him to go into Huntsboy Mode in broad day light, so that's where Eric came in. Jake smiled at Eric, "You're free for the rest of the night, just be back to the room around noon, that sound good."

Eric's stoic face broke into a grateful smile, "Thank you Mr. Long, very much."

Jake nodded and waited for Erin to leave before he turned back to Trevor and sunk down to his haunches, "Alright, you're a rational person, you get that rationality from me, not your mother. Now, how would it look if –… let say there were protesters in front of my offices, and I wanted to go home and the only way that I could go home was to get through those protesters. I begin to walk through the crowd and they begin to attack me, and I transform into a Dragon and rip them to shreds?"

"You'd probably get arrested?" Trevor said with a questioningly look.

"That's right," Jake nodded with a smile, "Now do you see the use for a Bodyguard?"

Trevor giggled, "Now I do, I'm sorry for saying that."

"Good," Jake smiled, "Now let's go on up to the room."

* * *

Rose shut the door to her office and looked at the crowd of her personal bodyguards and her assistant. Taking a rag that one of them handed her, she wiped her hands on it and handed it back to the person. Then she turned to her assistant with a vaguely bored look, "Take them to the furnace, I want them vaporized. And you are free to kill the others and do what you want with the bodies, I've solved this problem myself and I am now in 100 Percent control of this body. I want you to send out a notice to all on the list."

The Assistant smiled, "With Pleasure Mistress."

The look on her face then turned stony as she motioned for four of the bodyguards to go into the office and for the rest to follow her. Rose knew her assistants name, everyone did. It was Brianna. But when Rose first met her, she said that it made her feel like a six year old girl at a slumber party. She simply wanted to be referred to as '_The assistant_'. Sure, it was weird, but Rose had to admit, with the girl's ruthlessness and almost scary ability to get things done, it made sense and it added a layer of fear about her to her enemies.

So when Rose assumed the role of Huntsmistress, she took on the Assistant as her right hand. And that made her life significantly easier.

If only Rose could have that in the other aspect of her life.

It would be much easier then. But she didn't, and thus she had to do it herself.

Now she had a call to make to her bank in Switzerland.

* * *

Maxwell rubbed his eyes and leaned over his desk. He had just spent the entire last half of the day securing the eternal workings of the company for when Donald assumed the role as Chairman and he should have felt accomplished, but he wasn't and truth be told he really had only hit the tip of the Iceberg.

He still had to oversee the transfer of stock to Jake from the six loyal board members. He still had to send out a memo to the Board Members, requesting a mandatory meeting. He still had to draw up paperwork dismissing the disloyal Board Members and reducing the size of the Board itself. He still had to draw up a contract for this new Board Member Jake wanted to bring on and that was only the start. Rubbing his forehead, he sat back down and placed his fingers over the keyboard and began to type memos out at lightning speed:

**From: Co-Chairman and CFO Maxwell Stoops**

**To: All Members of the Corporate Board of Directors for INGB and staff. **

**The following is the Agenda that Chairman Long and I have laid out: **

**1). Will we discuss certain **_**financial movements**_** by Board Members. **

**2). We will discuss the impacts of what those movements will make. **

**3). The dismissal of the Board Members that have sold their stock. **

**4). We will announce a shrinking of the Board of Directors. **

**5). We will install new Board Members. **

**6.) We will officially move the International and National General Broadcasting Corporate World Headquarters from San Francisco, California to New York City, New York. The move is effective immediately. **

**7.) The transfer of the power of Chairman from Jacob Long to Donald Wilson (Pending the sale of the shares that constitute principle- **

Max growled as his phone rang and disrupted his typing skills. Cursing, he picked up the phone and held it up to his ear, "You know Connie, I love you and everything, you're great, but I'm kind of busy at the moment, so what is it!"

"Uh," Connie, his secretary chuckled nervously, "Those PI's that you put on Donald Wilson have reported back in. Apparently they spotted him going into the Grand Cayman Bank in Los Angeles. What do you want them to do?"

Max's eyes widened to the size of saucers, "Grand Cayman, as in Henry Donatella's Bank? As in Donald's Chief banker from when he was running Disney and Viacom?"

"From what I know, that's correct," Connie affirmed.

"Tell them to keep tails on him until he comes back up here for the Board Meeting, other than that, I'll handle this, can you patch me through to Mr. Long's cell phone?" Max asked, running his hand through his hair.

* * *

Jake sighed and picked up his cell phone, Trevor was taking a bath and that left him alone, sitting on his bed. Holding it up to his ear, he sighed and rubbed his forehead irritably, "You know Max, there are only 24 Hours in a day, and as much as I'm happy that you're taking advantage of them all, don't you sleep?"

"There's no time to sleep," Max commented, "I've finished securing all of the company's internal workings from Donald. And I still have everything else to sort out, on top of the fact that our PI's just reported that Donald made a very special and out of the blue trip to LA to the Grand Cayman Bank. Now, you know that I wouldn't bother you normally with this, but Henry Donatella would do anything for Donald. Now, if he's getting a loan - that could spell trouble for us."

"I know Henry Donatella, he's not going to loan out that much money to one man, and risk not being paid back," Jake chuckled, and then he stopped chuckling, as a thought occurred to him, "Max, I know that you're swamped, but I want you to watch our accounts when you get that chance, I don't want to him-…"

"That's Illegal Jake, but who said that son of a bitch did anything legal?" Max said.

"Thank you, now get some sleep for the meeting tomorrow morning, okay?" He asked.

"Alright," Max said with a thankful tone.

* * *

**A/N: I know I said that it would be a little while, but I couldn't resist. Now I'm going to start to write a little background for these characters and some things in this story and if you want to read it, you'll have to join my Yahoo Group, the link is on my page here. I don't have anything up for Into that Good Night just yet, but stay tuned. Anyway, leave a review for me! Thanks!**


	25. Chapter 24 – Insurance Policy

**Chapter 23 – Insurance Policy**

**(Please read the Authors Note at the bottom, it's important)**

Jake felt like shit the next morning, for a few reasons actually, he was sure that he was coming down with something and for the fact that he couldn't really spend the time with his son that he had wanted. Even though he really only would be working for the next hour at most and that he had cleared the rest of the day to spend with Trevor, he wanted to spend every second with the kid. But this Board Meeting was crucial and he had to keep his iron grip on the Board if he ever had a hope of gaining back control of it one day.

With Trevor in tow, Jake nodded his head as several of his advisors began to tell him of the developments of the past week that he had missed in terms of things going on in the company. He clutched a large stack of papers in his hand as they moved down the hallway to the conference room that had been set up and secured for the video-conference with the rest of the Board.

"Are they waiting for me?" Jake asked rather stoically.

"Yes, they're just waiting for your call," Margret said in a fast paced tone.

"And is my new Board Member waiting for me?" He questioned.

Margret nodded, "She arrived twenty minutes ago. She's currently being briefed by her new staff. She's also being informed of this little power struggle going on between yourself and Donald. Did you want that?"

Jake turned to her, "I informed her of that when I asked her to join."

"You _planted _her on the Board? That's illegal!" Margret hissed at him.

Jake sneered at his secretary, "Do you think that Donald hasn't done that?"

"That doesn't mean that you have to sink down to his level," Margret insisted, she knew that if you did something wrong in the Corporate World, it did eventually catch up with you, "Come on Jake, you know it's wrong."

Jake stopped and thus everyone in the entire entourage stopped and Jake took an annoyed look on his face, "That man has taken fifty percent of my company from me in the process of 24 Hours and since I learned of this little hostile takeover, I've been taking all the steps necessary to get it back in as little as time as possible. So I will do this, no matter what the risk is."

Without any other word to her, he turned to his left and beckoned Trevor to follow him and they strode to the conference room. He didn't need to have people talking in his ear anymore, he knew exactly what he was going to do and he knew the attack plan. This Board Meeting was set up with just enough time to get what he needed to get done and at the very end give Donald the Chairmanship of the company.

* * *

Rose nodded to her new assistant and stacked the papers accordingly in front of her. She was sitting in a posh looking rectangular room, at a table that could be described as a half rectangle with two chairs at it. The one at the head of the table was where Jake would sit when he got here and the one to his immediate right was where she would sit. At the other end of the table was a flat screen television and a web camera that would send their images to the other side of the country.

Rose was growing to like this very much.

She felt powerful. She was powerful already, don't get her wrong, but this boosted her ego to enormous levels. She was now a Corporate Board Director for a company that was owned by the only man that she had ever loved. Today was shaping up to be one of the best and strangest days of her life. She was now in complete control again and the best thing, Jake was back with her. And now they were going to be partners in this thing…

How exciting, "Ms. Thorn, the Chairman is on his way."

Rose looked up to her new assistant, some girl named Miranda, and smiled at her. It was going to be fucking weird to have Jake be referred to as the CEO or Chairman, "Thank you Miranda."

* * *

Motioning for Trevor to go into the room, he turned to Margret and a stony expression came over his face, "Give a call to Maxwell and tell him that I want the meeting to start in about fifteen minutes. I have to prep Ms. Thorn about the meeting and what her new duties will be. Text me when Maxwell is ready to begin and we'll set up. Do you think you can do that without killing me?"

"Jake, you have the power of firing me, I wouldn't kill you," Margret teased.

Jake grinned, "As long as you can remember that."

* * *

"Did you have fun with your Dad last night?" Rose asked as Trevor hopped up onto her lap. She was finally able to wind it down a little bit, after moving a shit load of money around and killing people all night, she could at last talk to Trevor. Truly that was what she needed at the moment.

Trevor nodded enthusiastically, "We stayed up all night talking."

"How late?" Rose asked with a raised eyebrow.

"About 2:00 AM," Trevor answered his mother sheepishly.

Rose let out a light, almost fiendish laugh, "I'm going to have a big talk with your father about you staying up until 2:00 AM. Now did your father tell you the big news?"

"That you're joining the Board? Yeah! I thought it was pretty cool," He said.

Rose patted her son's stomach, "Well then, I'm glad you're on board."

But before Trevor could respond, the door to the conference room opened and Jake stepped in. He didn't say anything as he walked to the head of the table, sat a stack of papers and his cell phone down and buried his head in his hands, "I can't believe I'm about to do this. I mean I've had an iron grip on this company for ten years and this prick comes in and takes half of it away from me. But it doesn't matter. My name is under the company bonds, I'm the CEO. Everyone in the executive branch of this company is loyal to me and at the end of the day I will be in control. This still hurts though."

"Well then," Rose said as Trevor jumped off of her lap, "Let's get started."

Rose scooted in and picked up the first paper and Jake did the same. His team had received this fax early in morning and they had gone over it with a fine tooth comb, "Alright, we'll open the meeting, and I'll proceed to announce the agenda. But I have to warn you that the first fifteen minutes have been put aside for me to completely lay into Donald. I don't think you've ever seen me when I've been on my Corporate Soapbox."

She grinned, "I bet it's entertaining."

"You bet," Jake smiled at her, "Then I'll announce the shrinking of the Board and that I've appointed you, and Max to join me. Other than that-…"

Oh yes, this was going to be fun.

* * *

**Authors Note: I'm so sorry that it's been awhile since I updated this, but I recently had a death in my family and I had to fly home. Funny thing, I actually had to fly home on September 11****th****. The Airport that I was at actually had a security scare while I was there and I was so afraid that I wouldn't able to get home. But I did :). I have to warn you though, that I'm going to have a lot of my plate within the next few months, so if updates begin to get scarce, that's why.**

**But I'm not at all abandoning this, if it at all comes to the point where I can't continue these (Which is highly unlikely, but JUST IN CASE) **

**And that whole goal about me stopping writing ADJL at the end of this year cannot be obviously met without me dropping all of my open stories, so I'm pushing that goal back a little bit. So you haven't seen the last of me in this genre! *Applause Dies down***

**Anyway, leave a review. **


	26. Chapter 25 – Quid Pro Quo

**Chapter 24 - Quid Pro Quo**

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Board," Jake spoke in a clear and crisp tone a the image of the INGB Board Room across the country came onto the screen in front of him, "I have been the Chairman and CEO of this Multinational, Multibillion Dollar, Conglomerate for a decade. I have built this company from a sole ownership, private, nationwide, forth rate broadcasting company to a world-wide Broadcasting Empire. And what I'm about to tell you is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, but I have no choice, _for now_."

Jake knew when he spoke the words that Donald's face grew steadily harder as a mask came over him. He had built a reputation of keeping his word in the past ten years and they all knew that Jake would find some way to at least attempt to gain the Chairmanship back. Looking down at the Meeting Itinerary, Jake sighed, "At 11:59 Eastern Standard Time, just after this meeting officially ends, I Jacob Luke Long will resign as Chairman effective immediately. Board Member Donald Wilson, will be sworn in as Chairman. I want to make the point though that various changes will be made during this meeting and they will be irreversible after I leave. Is that understood?"

There was a nod from all of the Board Members, but he noticed that Donald had taken a little longer to nod. Jake smiled, "Very well, let's begin. I want to introduce you to the newest member of our Board. Her name is Rose Thorn, she owns the largest Gun Company on the Eastern Seaboard. She is now the third most senior shareholder behind me and Mr. Wilson."

"Now, I want to make it perfectly clear, though I am about to lost half of my powers in this company, my name is on the bonds that are used to purchased assets with company funds," Jake said sternly, "This company was founded by my family, I opened this company up to the public and be aware that I have the power to take it back into privacy if certain decisions are made by this Board do not fit the interest of this company."

He turned and looked at Rose for a moment and then smiled back at his Board Members, "This is my company, do not forget that. Do not ever forget that. Don't you forget that Donald, this is not Berkshire Hathaway, nor is it Viacom or Disney, this is INBG, this company was founded by a Long and it remain under operation by a Long, do I make myself clear?"

Again another nod and then Jake nodded, Rose looked back at the screen and she saw the man at the far side of the table, the man named Maxwell Stoops, nod. Maxwell then stood up, "Let's cut to the chase, the Chairman and I were discussing several things last night and we came to the conclusion that this Board must be shrunk. That is the first business today."

Maxwell slid folders to the four Board Members that had sold their shares to Donald, and then sat back in his chair, "Per our ultimatum, your contracts are void and inside are checks made out to you for $25 Million Dollars."

"Now get out," Jake added at the very end.

* * *

Ten minutes later and after ten minutes of protests by the dismissed Board Members of having only 5% of their investment returned. Jake leaned back in his chair, and turned to Rose, "How do you like me now baby?"

Rose narrowed her eyes playfully, "I've never been more attracted to you."

"It only gets better," Jake smiled and watched as the meeting came back into order. He leaned forward, "Now Gentlemen, as Chairman, I hereby appoint myself and Mr. Stoops onto the Board to join Ms. Thorn."

Donald then stood up in protest, pure outrage was on his face as he finally understood the implication of what Jake had just said. If Donald wanted to push through something, he would need to have six members and he happened to know that with what Jake had just said, that would be impossible, "You cannot do that, you know just as well as I do that i-…"

"Oh," Jake said cockily, "I can do this Donald, because you see, I intercepted something very interesting this morning as you were purchasing your controlling interest in INGB. You had a massive infusion of cash, all directed from Grand Cayman Bank, AKA you're being funded by Henry Donatella."

His face screwed up into a mask of indifference, "So?"

"I happen to know that you don't have any financial ties to GCB, but you are best friends with Henry Donatella," Jake grinned and looked down to the paper, "GCB gave over 96% Percent of its loaning vault to you, to buy stock. Now you might not get nailed from an outsider's perspective, but all I have to do is show this document and establish your prior relationship with Donatella and you're at least down for 3 SEC Violations. We all know this."

There was a tense silence, "What do you want Jake?"

"Well seeing as it will be awhile before I can't kick you out of my Company, you will accept this Board Shrinkage," Jake said, "I won't tell on you if you accept this. Now, do we have a deal?"

* * *

**AN:/ We're actually going to see some Jake/Rose/Trevor interaction in the next chapter. But I had to get through this to get to there, so please be patient. You won't be disappointed for the next chapter.**


	27. Chapter 26 – Iron Fist

**Chapter 25 – Iron Fist**

"There is one last order of business today before I turn over the reins, and I want to make it clear again that this is irreversible," Jake said as he folded his hands together on the surface of the table, "I have given this a considerable amount of thought and I knew I would have to do that before putting it up for a vote. Now, will all those in favor of moving the Corporate World Headquarters from San Francisco, California to Manhattan New York, please raise your hands. Those not in favor, keep your hands down."

As Jake readily expected, everyone, including Rose raised their hands in support of the measure. And, again, as he expected, Donald kept his hands down. Donald had agreed to accept the Board change so long as Jake didn't report him to the SEC and the rest of the Board was more than willing to keep their mouths shut. Jake knew that this move fell under the category of shutting up and taking it, and that's why he didn't call on Donald. He knew exactly why he voted no on the move, "That settles it, Maxwell, after this meeting concludes, I want you to begin the moving procedures, file the paperwork with the SEC and issue a press release, the usual."

"Chairman Long, may we move onto the next order of business in private please, in a meeting between you and me?" Donald asked impatiently.

He shared a glance with Maxwell and nodded and then turned to Rose who was looking at him with a questioning glance. Making a motion to her with his head he whispered, "Take Trevor and walk around, this won't take long."

Rose nodded and stood up and made a beckoning motion to Trevor with her fingers as she approached the door. Rose turned back to Jake and winked at him, which caused him to smile at her before he turned his attention back to the screen. Donald had now vacated his chair and was now sitting on the table and very close to the camera. Now came the period when they stared each other down. Donald didn't blink, neither did Jake.

He equated this stare off to a number of things, when Political Factions would battle for control of a Government, when Armies would battle each other for land, it was on the magnitude. Jake, the new generation of Corporate Tycoons and Donald, the old Generation of Corporate Legends, both were equally powerful and neither would back down so easily.

"There are a few things you should know," Jake began slowly.

Donald raised an eyebrow, "And what is that?"

"Right now, this Company is being watched like a hawk by the SEC. They are monitoring us because they fear that we're attempting to build a Monopoly, I've been making regular trips to Washington to quell it down," Jake paused and looked down the table with a sigh, "You know what this means don't you? You make one misstep, one move that the Government doesn't like and they will rain down enough crap to bury us in it. I want you to be careful."

Monopolies were Business Models that were illegal in the United States. A Monopoly was a Corporation that intended to take over all of its competitors and make it the only place that consumers could buy from. These were technically illegal in the United States and large, powerful companies that were suspected of attempting to create monopolies were usually fined and senior officers were prosecuted. It would be as if Coke tried to buy out the Pepsi Corporation, or if INGB tried to buy out NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN. INGB actually held stock in _all_ of them and controlled a portion of all of those companies, so in a roundabout way he did have power over all American Broadcasting. But he didn't control _all _of it, he didn't own 100% of all of those companies, and that little technicality was why he wasn't sitting in front of an SEC Panel on Monopolizing Charges, "Why haven't you told us any of this?"

"Because it's a silent probe, the SEC knows that if they jump on us without any evidence, they'll set back the entire American Economy," Jake smirked with a hint of leisure in his voice, "You had no business knowing about the SEC Probe, the Company wasn't threatened in anyway. But now that you're a member of the Executive Branch of this company, you need to know."

Donald scowled, "You are an arrogant little shit Jacob."

Jake smiled and rested his chin in his hand, "And you are a narcissistic, evil, conniving, son of a bitch who needs to die. But I won't hold it against you if you don't hold it against me from the fact that I'm an arrogant shit."

"Fuck you," Donald hissed.

"Right back at you Mr. Chairman," Jake smirked, "Mr. Chairman in name only."

Donald scowled and within a second the camera shut off and the feed died.

* * *

"How do you know Jake?" Margret asked Rose as they overlooked the massive indoor pool within the Waldorf Astoria. From the moment that Margret had met Rose, she got a bad feeling from the woman. But Jake seemed to trust her almost completely. She would follow her boss to the gates of hell.

For all that Jake had done for her she had unwaveringly loyalty to him.

And that included protecting him from evil, double dealing people. And Margret had a feeling that this was exactly what this Rose Thorn was, an evil woman. Rose turned and smirked to the woman, "I assume you know-…"

Rose inclined her head to Trevor who was walking around the pool. Margret sighed inwardly but smiled and nodded her head outwardly, "He looks just like Jake. It's fairly obvious. It would have been easy to spot."

"Yes," Rose smiled and nodded fondly at her son, "Jake was my High School Sweetheart, the love of my life, the father of my child and now he's a business partner. What about you, how long have been here?"

Margret smiled, "Through it all, he hired me about a decade ago."

"Did you and he-…?" Rose made a vague motion with her hands.

The younger woman blushed and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear before she nodded. Rose scowled visibly and turned back to the window, she shook her head as the anger filled her. If this were any other place, in fact if this were the Huntslair, the bitch would be on the floor with a neck that was broken clean in half. How dare she practically flaunt the fact that she and Jake had …a thing together, it pissed Rose off. Rose and Jake had a child together, that was worth more than a ten year working relationship.

The glass shattered, but she would handle it delicately, this was Jake's employee and an apparent vital one. Rose spun on her heel and offered the woman a genuinely believable fake smile, "Listen, I don't know if you two are in the place anymore, but could you yourself abate from coming back to that place. I intend on having my child's father back in his life and in hindsight I suppose that I'll be back in his life. I'm the nicest person that you can ever meet, but if you get on my bad side, I'm the craziest bitch alive, got it?"

Margret nodded franticly, "I will, I understand, I'll just be going…"

Rose nodded turned back to the window overlooking the pool. Taking a deep breath in, she smiled. She felt so much better now that that was completed, now she had a man to see. As she turned, she was met by the seething face of the father of her child. Oh great, she groaned inwardly, this is exactly what she needed right now, "How long have you been standing there?"

"About the point when you started to imply threats to my staff," Jake said.

Rose put her hands on her hips and scowled, "Well excuse me for getting a little bitchy, I asked her if you and her had slept together and she gets all giggly and shit. What do you expect me to do about it Jake?"

"Yes," Jake nodded, "We dated, but that was a very long time ago Rose and we've remained good friends since then. I don't want you to go shell shocking every one of my female staff members that you meet. I'll run out of them."

"Ok," She sighed but then she looked at him with a skeptical eye, "Have you been sleeping with anyone else besides what's her name? Margret?"

Jake shook his head, "I've slept with two women in my life, you and her."

Rose snorted and in a bit of mock deviousness. She was no longer jealous, but that didn't mean that she couldn't have any more laughs over the issue of that woman, "Now I know who I have to kill."

"Rose," Jake warned with a bit of a laugh.

"Don't worry about it," Rose smiled and approached him, "So my schedule is freed up for today, Trevor doesn't have to go back to the Academy for a few more days. You said you had some plans made?"

Confusion flashed over his face for a moment, and then he remembered his appointment with his real estate agent that was in an hour and a half, "I've got this really great Condo that I wanted to look at, I made an appointment with my real estate agent to show me the place in a little over an hour. I wanted you and Trevor to come by and check it out, is that okay?"

She let a teasing smile onto her face, "That depends, does it have enough room for say two adults and one…maybe _two_ kids…?"

Jake chuckled and wrapped his arms around Rose's narrow waist before pulling her tightly against him, "We can always move to a bigger place."

"I forgot," Rose giggled against his chest, "We're both Billionaires."

"How 'bout we go get our kid and head off to his place eh?" Jake suggested.

* * *

**A/N: A little basic High School Economics lesson for you! I hope that it didn't sound too much like school. Anyway, more will be revealed in time Young Dragon. Any questions or concerns, PM me and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible! Other than that, review!**


	28. Chapter 27 – War

**Chapter 26 – War**

"I'll show that little prick to screw with me," Donald Wilson slammed the secret dossier onto his desk. It had taken three hours to assemble, and he had to personally call in old favors and remind people of dirt that he had on them to get the information. He had to call seven different banks in four different countries and wait for the fax pages that were ten pages long. It had taken some time, but he was fully prepared to do it if there was anything he could use to get some dirt on Jacob Long. All of it was risky.

There was a chance that his financials were completely clean and in that case there wouldn't be much to do, other than to just sit back and take it on the chin. But Donald Wilson wasn't one to settle, the first bank statements that he had acquired was from UBS, a bank based out of Switzerland. In some circles it was called the Bank of Billionaires. It was no wonder that the pages he had received from UBS on Jake's accounts were thick. Donald quickly began to read the cover page sent to him by his contact at UBS:

_Jacob Luke Long – Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of International and National General Broadcasting Company. Mr. Long has a number of accounts with UBS, most of which have reached the cap amount by the regulations set by the Bank Board of Governors, he has most recently filed papers to open up another account with a base payment of $130 Million Dollars USD. His six accounts come to a sum of $16 Billion Dollars USD. Last Fiscal Year, Mr. Long deposited $400 Million Dollars, most of the income was interest from his stock holdings. At least that's what he reported them to be. As I can see it Donald, Jacob is an honest client and we are happy to have his business. My favor owed to you is paid, so consider yourself banned from the United Bank of Switzerland; furthermore, your efforts will be in vain._

Donald growled and grabbed the paper and tore it into pieces, this was going to cost him more then he thought.

* * *

"You two go ahead," Jake motioned Rose and Trevor along as they stood in the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. He pulled his ringing cell phone out of his pocket. His eyes widened, Kaspar Villger, the head of the United Bank of Switzerland. Pressing the button to accept the call, he held the phone up to his ear and ran his hand through his hair, "Kaspar, uh… it's a pleasure to talk to you. What's this call about exactly?"

Kaspar's think Swiss accent was hard to understand sometime over the phone, but Jake managed to hear him clearly, almost as if he was speaking fluent English, "Jake, this isn't a pleasure call, we just received a report from one of our employees that someone called and used blackmail to gain access to your financial accounts with us. He did give the records to the caller, but he says he regrets the decision and has filled paperwork to ban the caller from business with our bank and he has submitted his letter of resignation, I'll accept it if you wish me too."

"What?" Jake rubbed his forehead, he was seeing red.

"He gave your records out," Kaspar said again.

"To who, I want the name," Jake had a feeling that he knew, but he just had to hear it for himself.

"Donald Wilson," Kaspar said, "Didn't he take over as Chairman of the Board this morning?"

Jake gritted his teeth, "Yes, what Donald is trying to do is comb through my records to find something that he can take the SEC to screw me over and get me out of INGB all together. I have a lot of dirt on him, but he has nothing on me and he will not find it anywhere he looks."

"May I ask you a personal question Jacob?" Kaspar asked.

Kaspar Villger was no stranger to corrupt banking, Jake knew that and that's why he didn't hesitate, "You want to know about my income?"

"Simply curious," Kaspar affirmed.

Jake chuckled, "$400 Million Dollars, it was income off of stock interest and classified assets. That's only the money that I deposited in your bank, if you combine by money that I made last year, it came out to roughly $3 Billion Dollars. Again, all from Stock Interests, Asset Yield and my Pay Check there was nothing dirty about it. But let me just say, that if you do not freeze Donald Wilsons Accounts, I'll pull all the money that I have with UBS and put it in an American Bank. Let's see $16 Billion Dollars, and I'll only accept US Dollars, otherwise I'll take you to the cleaners."

"Jacob there's no reason to threaten me," Kaspar laughed, "I will freeze Donald's accounts, but there's the matter of this trader who gave the in-…"

"Accept his resignation letter, fire him," Jake said, cutting off the Head of the Bank, "I have a call to make, thank you for letting me know."

* * *

Donald made the one mistake of picking up his phone without looking who was calling him. It was a mistake that he regretted with all of his being because the one man that he had no wish to speak to was actually calling him. Sighing and rubbing his forehead, he looked down at the papers, "CEO Long, I wasn't excepting to talk to you until next week with the deal with China. Is there something that I can do for you?"

"I'll save you a lot of frustration you nosey little bitch," Donald could actually feel Jacob's smirk, "I have $21 Billion Dollars in Cash invested throughout the world, I have $900 Million Dollars worth of tangible and non-tangible assets, nowadays I deposit my paycheck at Bank of America and Citi Bank, that's a good $1 Billion Dollars a year. There's nothing you have on me, I'm squeaky clean, unlike yourself, so I don't know why you're even trying to screw me."

Donald was fuming, "How did you find out?"

"My good friend Kaspar Villger just called me," Jake smiled, "By the way, your UBS accounts are frozen and your little friend there who gave you my personal records is dismissed. Oh, and I now have blackmail and privacy violations to add to my big ass pile of dirt on you. So my friend, continue your little witch hunt. I'm more than willing keep tabs on your illegal activities."

Something occurred to Donald, "What about Board Planting, I'm sure that's what you did with the addition of Ms. Thorn. Not to mention the fact that you shrunk the Board, put yourself and Maxwell back on it, and brought in Ms. Thorn. With you three on one side, the other four as members in your pocket, that only leaves me, which means that you are the Chairmen in all but name, am I right?"

Jake scowled, but he took care to keep it out of his voice, "I don't know what you're talking about, though I'm aware that at most all I'll get is a fine if I did that, but with your situation, you'd get a lengthy prison term. Play your cards carefully Donald, but know that you won't get me, I'm untouchable."

With that, Jake hung up the phone and slid it back into his pocket. There was nothing more to say, Donald knew that he would be the one to get screwed if he were caught, and he knew that if the SEC or the FTC caught Jake on the Board Planting Scheme, he'd at most receive a fine. Sighing, he turned and walked out of lobby. You didn't screw with him, no matter what you thought about him, no matter how much you underestimated him through his age, you'd get a rude awakening. Jake grinned as his driver stood at the opened door of the limousine. Ten years later, he still loved that little perk.

Crawling into the Limousine, he settled next to Rose and quickly began to put his seatbelt on, "Problems with the business or something?"

Jake turned to Rose and smiled, "No, I had a little problem, but I solved it."


	29. Chapter 28 – Unfortunate

**Chapter 27 – Unfortunate **

* * *

Jake's Real Estate Agent was that typical older lady with her hair dyed and in that pantsuit who wore herself with a level of class that she wasn't born into but married into. Rose found her distasteful form the moment that she met her, but she knew to keep her mouth shut. She'd voice her thoughts later when they were alone, "It encompasses the top two floors and it takes over the entire right side of these stories. Three Bedrooms, Three Bathrooms, Fully Stocked state of art kitchen, spacious interior, vaulted ceilings, there's a hot tub out on the balcony and a small movie theater in here as well."

Folding his arms over his chest, he turned back to Rose and Trevor with a grin, "How about you two go check it out and tell me what you think?"

Trevor nodded enthusiastically and naturally he headed off in the direction of where the movie was, Rose chuckled at the sight and moved to the balcony rather slowly. If there was anything that she was going to use if she ever lived in this condo, it was going to be that hot tub. After he made sure that Rose and Trevor were out of possible earshot, he turned back to his Real Estate Agent. Shawna Coward had served him faithfully throughout the past ten years, and there was something that he wanted to talk to her about.

"Are you really going to retire?" Jake asked her with a slight scowl.

Shawna smiled, "It's time, and besides my firm doesn't keep people at my age. I think it's time to go out undefeated, this'll be my very last job."

"How about," Jake began coyly as the two made their way to the kitchen table, "When you retire from your post at your firm, you come to work for INGB or myself. I've got a few places where I could use your expertise."

"I don't know," Shawna snorted with a slight chuckle, "I wouldn't accept anything but half of the commissions, and I'll have to make new plans."

"Plans?" Jake questioned as he leaned back in the chair.

"My husband and I were planning on building a house out in the Hamptons after I retired," Shawna sighed as she began to drum her fingers on the kitchen table, "He told me that he could tell that I didn't want to stop working, and he also said that if I wanted to work somewhere else that I had his support, but I decided to follow his lead and begin building our house."

Jake smiled, "How about this? You come on as Chief of Property Acquisitions and Liquidations for INGB North America. Part time, however I chose to recall you to full time if needed, I pay you $1.5 Million Dollars a month. I'll need someone like you when I begin cementing my operations in China."

"China huh?" Shawna asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We've been given authorization to begin acquiring properties all across the countries capital, they've allotted us a Government Credit line of $500 Million Dollars as a good faith payment," Jake chuckled at his awkward meeting with the President of China himself, "You know for a bunch of Communists they really do not run the country like a communist state."

Shawna's eyes widened, "$500 Million Dollars? Why would they do that?"

"I met with their President, and he told me straight up that he and his party would have no greater pleasure then having an Asian run their statewide broadcasting systems," Jake actually snickered at this one, "I knew that would come to my advantage one day, so, will you do it for me? There is no one else better in this business of looking at good properties and selling them then you and I'll give you whatever you want to come on board."

Shawna looked at Jake's outstretched hand and then looked back up at him with a coy smirk, "I want $5 Million a year, 30 Percent of all of the commissions that we get and the write to set my work schedule."

"That's accepted, under the condition that you cannot refuse me recalling you back into work full time for intermediate periods of time," Jake stared at her hard, he was good at negotiation, "Oh, and you have to do the work."

Reaching out, she nodded and shook his hand, "I'll get started learning all I can about the Chinese Real Estate System and their Real Estate Laws. When do I need to report for duty?"

"Two weeks from now, by that time, the Corporate World Headquarters will be moved from San Francisco to Manhattan and I want you to report there and you and I will leave for China," Jake smiled as the sound of Rose coming back in from the inside and Trevor making his way back from the movie theater began to break the silence. He turned back to them both.

Raising an eyebrow, he grinned, "What do you two think?"

"Oh Dad you have to get this place," Trevor said unabashedly.

Rose nodded, "I completely agree, I'd love to live in a place like this."

"That settles it," Jake turned back to Shawna, "What's their price?"

"An even $35 Million Dollars," She said, "That's a steal compared to what it was before the market crashed, the owner had it listed at $100 Million."

"I want it," Jake nodded, "File the paperwork. Call me when they want the money, I'd be more than happy to pay for it. Now if there is anything el-…"

"I just want to say, thank you for this new opportunity Jake," Shawna grinned and extended her hand for Jake to shake one more time, "I'll get started on my assignment and I'll put through your bid at once."

Jake smiled, "Thank you."

* * *

"As a Board Member, you need to be aware of our current holdings and acquisitions," Jake said, they were in the back of the limousine and headed back to the hotel. Jake knew that he had perhaps an hour to go over this with Rose in the car, traffic in New York was a killer, "Before we get started, are there any question that you need answered?"

"Yes," Rose said sighing, "Why do I need to do this right now?"

Jake glared at her for a moment but he broke into a smile as Trevor started to laugh at his expression, "Because as a new Board Member, you have right your statement to our Shareholders, it's required, I'm helping you through it. You have to make the Shareholders happy, this is how to do it."

"Ok," Rose sighed, "Let's start with the smallest section, please?"

Jake smiled, "Ok, turn to page four."

Both Rose and Jake were holding a packet of papers that was drawn up for newly minted Shareholders, it got anyone caught up with the goings on in the company, it was the perfect start, "Partnership, Licensing Agreements, Marketing Agreements and Company Assets with National Broadcasting: we have a $500 Million Dollar Partnership with Disney, in exchange for %50 Percent of control of ABC Broadcasting, we give them worldwide syndication on all our networks."

"So let me get this straight, you own half of ABC, _all_ of Time Warner, twenty percent of CBS and 10 Percent of NBC Universal," Rose's eyes practically crossed at that, "And tell me what you aren't sitting in prison for running a monopoly? Because it sounds like one to me, I could be wrong, teach me."

Jake smiled and rubbed his face, "Your basic Capitalist Economics Markets, Monopolistic, Monopolies, Oligopolies and Perfect Competitions Markets, there are other forms, but they're mainly derived from those four."

"Which one are we?" Rose asked studiously.

"We're caught between Monopolistic and an Oligopoly," Jake said.

"The difference?" Rose asked with a raised eyebrow.

"An Oligopoly is a market that's controlled by three to five different companies," Jake said with a slight smile as he realized that if this were ten years ago, Jake wouldn't have been able to tell her any of this and she was finally learning from him, "An Example: In Broadcasting in the US, the big three are NBC, CBS and INGB, the smaller Broadcasting Companies are subject to the control that we exercise of the market. If we raise rates, they had to too to keep up with us, if we lower rates, so do they. The difference between an Oligopolistic Market and a Monopolistic Market is that in an Oligopolistic Market, there are smaller companies and bigger ones. In a Monopolistic Market, there would only be the big three. You got that?"

Rose nodded and looked down to the paper, "I think so, how did you get so smart, I mean when we last saw each other, you were a complete dullard."

"Thanks," Jake rolled his eyes, "I just picked it up along the way."

But none of them could respond, as the sound of the limousines horn drowned out their thoughts. Rose looked past Jake and outside the window nearest his head they were in a four way intersection and speeding towards them was a Range Rover going way past the legal speed limit. She cursed inwardly, she knew what was about to happen.

With her lighting fast reflexes, she grabbed her son's collar and pulled him down into the floor and away from the place that she knew it would hit. Jake caught onto this immediately and followed Rose's lead. With a burst of his Dragon Reflexes, he covered the uncovered side of Trevor's body.

The last thing Jake remembered was the crunching sound and impact of where he had just been sitting moments before.

And then everything was black.

* * *

**Authors Note: …ducks flying rocks… **


	30. Chapter 29  Convergence

**Chapter 28 – Convergence**

**1 Hour Later…**

"Breaking News: This just coming out of Manhattan," Bill Watkins, Chief Anchor for CNN's Noon Hour said in a tone that conveyed the urgency of what was unfolding, "The Chief Executive Officer and former Chairman of the Board of the parent company of this network INGB, Jacob Long was reportedly just involved in a nasty car accident. We're trying to get a camera on the scene, but the NYPD has told us that the four way intersection has been shut down and traffic has been diverted while they clean up the scene."

Five seconds later, a feed from a helicopter appeared on the screen. You could hear the audible gasp from Bill as the image came onto the screen. It was hard to take in. The large black stretched limousine was in the middle of the intersection, it was turned at an angle at the force of the impact and the entire left side of the limousine was completely crunched in. Ambulances surrounded the half destroyed limousine and parts of the car itself were strewn about everywhere. It was a gruesome scene and it had attracted people from around to watch. It was amazing how morbid sights could do that, "As you can see, we at CNN and the entire INGB Family is in a moment of prayer for Mr. Long and we will continue to bring you updates on this situation. We truly hope that this isn't as serious as it seems."

* * *

"Yeah," Maxwell Stoops said as he stared intently at the television, he had just gotten back from his lunch and was just about ready to look over some forms when he turned on CNN in his office and saw… this. He had immediately picked up the phone and called Margret, Jake's Assistant, for some information, "I'll call inform the Board and I'll be out there right after the meeting, what's the bad news, do I need to assume the reigns?"

On the other end of the phone, Margret nodded, she had been crying for several minutes before Max had called her and now she was struggling to get her words out eloquently, "His son and Ms. Thorn are okay, but Jake took most of the blow. The Doctors say that he has a concussion, several broken ribs. He's scratched up and has a few bruises, not to mention the fact that his lower back is herniated. For the next month, he'll be either wearing a brace or using crutches. He's weary right now, but the pain killers that he's on right now are able to keep his mind pretty clear. Do you want to speak with him? In fact, he's pretty damn insistent on talking to you right now, I'm going to hand the phone to him right now."

Max chuckled at the image of a beat up Jake motioning franticly for the phone.

Quite literally that's what was happening 4,500 Miles away in the Manhattan Hospital at which Jake, Rose, Trevor, Margret and the rest of the Long Family currently was at. He was sitting on a bed with his bare chest wrapped tightly and several bandages over the cuts on his face and other extremities. He looked quite odd sitting there in his state in nothing but a pair of business suite pants and penny loafers. Rubbing the back of his neck with a painful grimace, he held the phone up to his other ear, "My fucking bell has been rung, how is the media handling this?"

"CNN is putting on the face of being concerned about you, so is ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox," Max said flipping through the channels, "I just received a Text Message from the PR Department, they're waiting to release a statement until you've given the clearance. Do want you them to go ahead?"

Jake nodded, the pain in his skull and neck was overbearing, but he had enough energy to deal with this shit, "Yes, and I also want you to tell them to go ahead and set up a press conference with all of media. It'll serve two purposes, one, to show the world that I'm still breathing and two to announce the move. I want you to take over for a little while I get over the initial shock of this crap, otherwise, continue on with your duties."

"Right boss," Max said, "And do you want to accelerate this move?"

Jake nodded, "By this time next week, we need to have the Corporate World Headquarters moved here into New York."

"I'll get on it," Max nodded and sighed to look over at the paperwork on his desk, "I'll get right on all that you've asked, get well."

* * *

Rose rubbed her forehead wearily as she stood at the large window with her phone pressed against her ear. At the moment, she didn't really notice the car that hit them, for the fact that her child was the only one she was concerned about at the time, but as she looked back, she realized something. Not only did she didn't see a driver, the Range Rover itself matched the dozens that were currently furnished to Hunters by the Huntsclan and it had the typical markings on the front fender that allowed it access to all Huntslair Facilities. Rose herself had overseen the design of that specific security upgrade. She had personally overseen the design of the wireless, robotic automatic driving apparatus.

So out of the many buildings that surrounded the intersection, an enemy hunter could have been sitting in any of the thousands of windows and could have been waiting to ram the limousine. That also implied two other things, she hadn't quashed the little coup completely and that she was being tracked by the remaining traitors. Hadn't they learned that even if she was knocked down, she had a calculating mind and when she got back up she was going to find some way to snap their necks? All of them were imbeciles. She rolled her eyes when her assistant picked up, "Mistress?"

"I was just involved in a car accident," Rose sneered at nothing in particular, "And I got a good look at the car that hit us."

"What can I do for you?" The Assistant sounded as if she was taking off in a run.

"The car that hit us was a Range Rover," Rose said quietly to keep the conversation down, "Now I only saw it for five seconds, but I'm pretty sure that I saw no one in the driver's seat, it looks oddly familiar to the Range Rovers that we furnish for the field operatives and it had the designs that we use for the new fender security system for the Academy and for the Garage Entrance for the Huntslair Complex here in Manhattan. I want you to do a few things, check the logs, find out who checked out the car, hack into the NYPD Database make sure that any proof of any potential discovering of the Automated Driving Apparatus disappears, and get the wreckage out of the NYPD Junkyard as fast as possible."

"And if the car is ours and if it does contain the automated technology, what do you want us to do?" She said and if she knew her Assistant, she would be racing off to do her bidding. It was times like this when she knew that her position had perks.

"You find out who integrated that software into the car, and when you find the person who did it, you bring them to _me_, I don't care if your nice to them or your not but this poor son of a bitch is _mine_," Rose began to sneer again at the next thought that occurred to her, "My son was in that car, and if it were not for the fact that I had the foresight to see the car coming, he would have been hit by it directly. I plan on _fucking this person up_, cutting off his balls and feeding them to him."

"I'll have them by _the end of the day_, that little boy is like a son to me," The Assistant growled, "I'm taking this as personally as you are Mistress."

Rose smiled, "I appreciate it, and you call me when you have them."

* * *

When Donald Wilson turned on the news and heard the story, his feelings were _mixed_. For one, Donald wasn't the man to wish death or crippling injury on someone not even an intense business rival such as Jacob was. He truly wished that Jacob would make a recovery. But then there was the side of him that was positively gleeful at the prospect of what all of this would mean for him and his war to gain complete control of the world's most valuable company.

With Maxwell Stoops as temporary CEO, which he somehow knew would be taking control for a time until Jacob recovered, it presented an opportunity. With the Board having its defacto opposition leader sitting in a hospital recovering on the other side of the country, he could plant the seeds and perhaps harvest the fruits of his efforts all in one meeting. As Chairman, he had the ability to summon the Board Memebers, and as Chairman he also had the ability to summon the members that he wanted. He would summon every member except Maxwell and Jacob.

He would make a bid that Maxwell wasn't experienced enough to run the company as CEO, COO, CFO, Vice Chairman and Head of Worker Relations all at once. Donald on the other hand had served in all of those positions at one time in his career.

Perhaps even this Ms. Thorn would be able to help him as well.

_She_ was the weak point in Jacob's attempt to keep his power on the Board.

Yes, that's what he would do.

* * *

With her arms folded over her chest, Rose watched as Trevor was embraced by Jonathan, Susan and Haley. That's what he needed right now. She couldn't bare the thoughts that could have been possibly running through the child's mind at the moment. He had just gotten his father in his life and now to see his father taken away on a stretcher and rushed away in an ambulance. It was heartbreaking.

Sighing, she turned back to the large window and began to stare down at the streets. The last few days had been so hectic, she had just had the love of her life, the father of her child enter her life again, she had managed to not quite completely quash a rebellion evidently, she had spent $1.5 Billion Dollars in stock in the father of her child's company, become a Corporate Board Member and was just involved in car accident, life was becoming hell.

The sound of her cellphone ringing brought her out of her thoughts.

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled the cellphone out and held it up to her ear.

"Hello?" Rose said. She was vaguely annoyed that she didn't recognize the number.

"This is the Chairman of the Board of INGB's Office," A friendly secretary's voice sounded over the phone, "Is this Board Member Rose Thorn?"

Rose sighed and nodded, she felt vulnerable without Jake, "Yes, can I help you?"

"The Chairman has called and emergency Board Meeting," The Secretary said rather solemnly, "Due to the CEO's recent accident, he has not been informed of this meeting. Are you prepared to join this meeting or are you not in a place to do it, the Chairman has given you the option of opting out of this meeting."

_'Damn it…' _Rose cursed inwardly and looked around the hospital. She felt obligated to represent Jake on this Board even though she knew that this Maxwell person would be able too, "Yes, are you going to patch me through?"

"Yes," She said, "You'll be there over Speakerphone"

* * *

"Thank you for coming Ladies and Gentlemen," Donald said as he set a tan file at the head of the table, "Due to the unfortunate circumstances behind CEO Long's accident this morning you are all well aware of Maxwell Stoop's appointment as interim CEO. Board Member Thorn, how is the CEO doing at this moment?"

From the phone that had been placed at what would be Rose's seat, Rose's voice had a fake, happy, optimistic tone to it, "He's hanging in here, he's sleeping at the moment, he's banged and bruised up, he's concussed and has a back injury. But he's alive and breathing, he's just to take it easy for a little while."

"That's good, we're all praying for him, _even me_," Donald added and a light laugh rippled through the Board and even Rose laughed slightly, "Now, are we all ready to begin, I know that this was short notice, but I needed to schedule it quickly. Now let the record show that Vice Chairman Maxwell Stoops is not present and Board Member and CEO Jacob Long is incapacitated, a quorum is reached and this Board has the ability to vote."

They all looked at him with questioning looks, they all knew that this man was cunning and they knew that they were being set up with something. It only depended on what, "What are you trying to sell to us Donald?"

Donald turned to Sheila Dallone an original Board Member from when Jacob's Grandmother originally took the Company Public, "You know me well, anyway, I observed something peculiar. Maxwell Stoops, he's been run ragged. Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Head of Relations to 256,000 Employees around the world. Now who among you find that a little ridiculous, many of you are Chief Executives in your own right and have had to face the same thing?"

There was a nod, but Rose was silent, she was fuming that she had fallen into this trap. Donald Wilson must have been a master at the classic attack gambit, divide and conquer. Rose simply didn't know what the hell he was simply trying to conquer. She only knew that it was the company.

"We need to introduce some efficiency into the executive branch of the company," Donald said with a smirk as he set off in a walk around the large rectangular table, "Now, I know that all of you on this Board did not approve of my move to take control of this Board, but as the new Chairman as speaking and as a former 4 time Chairman of the Board for four different multi-billion Dollar Conglomerates and as a dual Chairman and CEO of three more multi-billion Dollar Conglomerates, I have the experience and the ability to run a company in both position."

Donald jumped on them when he sensed that they were going to protest, and leaned forward and pressed his hands on the table, "Before you lose your heads, I want to clarify this proposal, I will relinquish the title of CEO when Mr. Long can exercise the duties, once more it's a _temporary_ basis."

And then there was the overwhelming sense of victory in the air.

Within that moment, Donald Wilson had never felt smugger.

* * *

Margret Clare was sitting in the Hospital waiting room, sipping coffee and running the next few weeks through her head. She had learned long ago that a very good memory helped in this job. Maggie had successfully rewritten Jake's schedule for the next two weeks, re-booked television interviews, re-booked magazine and internet interviews and she had just recently finished. She was working with 4 hours sleep, and just as she was about to go to sleep, this happened and she was extremely on edge.

From inside her purse, her work phone beeped. Reaching inside, she grabbed it and realized that it was from the INGB Inter-Executive Text Messaging system. When she was in mid-sip from her coffee she opened it up: _By order of the International and National General Broadcasting Corporation Board of Directors, Maxwell Stoops, CFO, COO, Head of International Workers Relations and Interim CEO is herby removed from the position of Interim CEO by a vote of 6-4. The Board would like to stress that Mr. Stoops will be remaining in his other capacities." _

Her eyes widened as she realized there was another part of the message, opening it up, her eyes widened at the words before her. These were the words that she had dreaded since Donald Wilson's bid for complete control of company: _Due to CEO Jacob Long's incapacitation, Chairman of the Board Donald Wilson is hereby promoted to Interim CEO. The Board, again, would like to stress that this is temporary and he will reinstate Jacob Long as Chief Executive Officer." _

Her coffee cup slipped out of her hands and it splashed across the floor as it hit her.

"Holy shit," Margret cursed loudly and snatched her purse and ran off in the direction of the Jake's private room.

Jake needed to know about this as soon as possible.

* * *

Rose had nearly crushed her phone in anger after that Board Meeting. She had fallen for it! DAMN IT! It made her feel stupid. From what she knew about a democratic system and voting in General, you needed a quorum to vote and pass things. From the set up of the Board, they needed ten ordinary members there, if she hadn't been there, they wouldn't have been able to vote. She had just cost Jake his company.

She spun around when she heard the sound of rapid heel clicks against the floor and what she saw did not surprise her. Margret Clare, Jake's Assistant was flying past everyone and into the closed room. Rose managed to catch the younger woman by the arm and spin her around to face her, "Where the hell do you think your going?"

"I assume you just got out of a Board Meeting?" Margret sneered.

Rose scowled, "How did you find out?"

Maggie held up her phone and showed Rose the text message, "It's the inter-system text messaging service, we all have it. That means that if Jake has his phone right now, which he does, _he already knows about it_. It doesn't matter if you voted no, you signed for the meeting, there was a quorum and they could pass the act. You just screwed Jake out of his company because I can assure you Donald Wilson will not give up power."

With that, Maggie spun on her heel and went into the room.

* * *

_This was not happening._

Jake held his cellphone up reading the slew of text messages that he had gotten from the Board and from Maxwell. His were nothing but promises of revenge and urging for Jake to go the FTC and the SEC now. But he really wasn't thinking at the moment. The past twenty four hours had seen him lose the Chairmanship of the Board and the Chief Executive position of a company that his Grandmother had founded and that he had built into the worlds most powerful and valuable company.

Closing off the text messages, he sighed and set the phone next to him.

As he expected sooner then late, Maggie came bursting in.

He wasn't looking at her. He didn't want to look at anyone right now.

"I just received five text messages," Jake said, staring at the ceiling with a dazed look in his eyes, "Two came from the Inter-System. Maggie, did the Board remove Max as temporary CEO? By a vote of _6-4_?"

Maggie swallowed, "Yes."

"And that tenth member was Rose, wasn't it?" He scowled.

"Yes," Maggie's scowled deeper.

Jake scowled, oh he was going to lay into her, and he didn't give a flying shit that she was inexperienced. She should not have gone into a Board Meeting without _HIS_ knowledge. When business pea-brains enter the lions den without a weapon, they get eaten. And Rose was just devoured by people ten times as more experienced in Business then her. He clenched his fists tightly, "_First_ – I want you to get into contact with Brian Staler at the SEC, tell him to get his ass over here NOW! I'm going to put an end to this and screw the potential risk to the company. And, when you leave, you tell Rose to get her ass in here!"

* * *

**AN:/ 0.o…shit's about to go down.**


	31. Chapter 30 – Truths

**Chapter 29 – Truths **

Jake stood at the window with his arms folded across his wrapped chest, deep in thought. He needed to plan his next moves very carefully. With his old friend Brian Staler coming to see him, he needed to make the point that none of Donald's actions were done with his knowledge, nor were they done with the authorization or knowledge of the company. All he needed to do was to make the case for the SEC to step in and remove Donald from both positions. He couldn't allow Donald to remain as both Chairman and CEO for very long or the idiot could do something stupid.

Grasping his blackberry tighter in his hand, he rubbed his chin with his free hand and did even notice when Rose stepped into the private suite. His life was imploding around him and he needed to control himself. But he had the energy and more than enough anger for what was about to happen, he just needed to unload on someone and why not on Rose. If she hadn't gone into that meeting, the Board wouldn't have been able to reach a quorum and thus they would not have been able to vote, yes, he needed to unload on her right now, "Jake – please let me explain…"

Jake spun around and sneered at her, "No, I think I have to tell you something right now, so you just shut up, sit down and pay attention."

Ignoring the sigh that he heard from her, he watched as Rose sat in one of the chairs before the bed and let her hands in her lap. Holding his phone, he went into his text messages and looked at the one that proclaimed Donald as the new CEO, "_Due to CEO Jacob Long's incapacitation, Chairman of the Board Donald Wilson is hereby promoted to the position as interim CEO. The Board, again would like to stress that this is temporary and he will reinstate Jacob Long as Chief Executive Officer when that time comes_. Now you're good at physiologically profiling people, from what you've learned about Donald, does he sound like a son of a bitch who would relinquish complete and power of a COMPANY-…!"

With all of the rage that was building up in Jake's system, he threw his cell phone against the adjacent wall behind Rose and watched as he was smashed into a thousand small pieces, "Do you realize, do you realize that in the process of forty eight hours, I have been removed as Chairman of the Board and CEO by that prick? Do you realize what I have to do to get both of those posts back now? Do you realize that I have to put my company in a position of immeasurable danger from the Feds? It's because of your foolish sense of self-righteousness, your knack in meddling in affairs that you know nothing about that and I'm betting the farm on this SEC thing. I have to open my company up to them, because of _you_."

"Divide and Conquer, Rose you know what that is and you should have anticipated it," Jake shook his head as his utter rage passed over.

"Jake, there's no need to berate me," Rose insisted quietly.

Jake's rage came back, "There isn't any reason, THERE ISN'T ANY REASON? I just lost control of a _$659 Billion Dollar International Conglomerate_, all of it! I've lost all of it, because of _you_. Now I have to take some arduous steps to get it back, but I want you to know that if the SEC doesn't do anything about this and if Donald manages to hold onto power, I will have lost everything because of _your_ stupidity! Now if you would, _get out_."

He turned and folded his arms over his chest back to the window, "On your way out, send Maggie back in here."

"What about Trevor?" Rose asked meekly, this made her feel disgusting to speak like that, but she couldn't help it.

She noticed how Jake's shoulders softened slightly, but then they tensed right back up, "You leave him with my parents for the time being and that's where he will stay. I don't want him around the Huntsclan, and I will make sure that he will never return to the Huntsclan. Got that?"

"Excuse me?" Rose turned around, her strength was back.

"You heard me," Jake said, "I'm not denying you the right to see our children, nor will I keep you out of his life, but I WILL BE DAMNED IF I SEND HM BACK TO THAT HELL HOLE. THAT IS NO PLACE FOR A CHILD! IT'S HIM OR THE HUNTSCLAN. YOU HAVE A FEW DAYS TO MAKE THAT CHOICE!"

"YOU CAN'T MAKE ME CHOSE THAT!" Rose screamed back, how dare he! How dare that son of a bitch tell her what to do?

"REALLY? OH HUNTSMISTRESS, YOU MIGHT BE ALL POWERFUL IN A SECRET CLAN OF HUNTERS BUT IN THE COURT OF LAW, IN THE REAL WORLD, YOU HAVE NO POWER," Jake was livid and his voice was starting to break from all of his screaming, "I, ON THE OTHER HAND _HAVE_ POWER, NOT ONLY CAN I HIRE THE BEST LAWYERS IN THE WORLD TO RUIN YOU BUT I CAN MAKE SURE THAT YOU NEVER SEE TREVOR AGAIN-…"

Rose had enough, her rage got the best of her. She reached up quickly and nailed Jake in the chest with her right fist. Grasping his chest in pain, Jake growled and after a quick, bright transformation, he was in his Dragon Form. It had been seven years since his powers had been used. The last time it happened, it was involuntarily after being under so much stress and rage, but this was voluntary. Jake growled and proceeded to strike back with a blow by his powerful legs to her own chest. Rose felt back to the floor but quickly leaped up and attempted a roundhouse kick on him.

It had been a very long time since she had fought a Dragon in hand to hand combat.

It had been even longer since she had fought Jake and she had forgotten that he was no novice at fighting.

Especially when he caught her leg in mid-kick, picked her up and dropped her onto the floor, "ENOUGH!"

He transformed back into his human form and placed his hands on his knees to re-gain his breath. Rose was picking herself up with a wince when Jake began to speak again, but this time it was more a controlled, tense voice, "Enough, you call me when you're ready to make a decision. But otherwise I don't want you going near Trevor. You're involved in things too dangerous for a kid to be around, now if you please go around."

Grunting, Rose straightened herself up, "Why are you so intent on being a father, you've been his father for two days."

"I can't keep apologizing for that Rose," He said quietly turning to face the window, "I can't go back in time for these past ten years, but I can make a start by removing him from something that makes him completely miserable. Not you, the people that you associate with, understand?"

Sighing deeply, she turned and left the Hospital room with so much as a word, not to Jake, not to the Long Family and not to Trevor.

And the fact that she didn't and wasn't able to even speak to Trevor saddened her and that, that… had happened with Jake was even more saddening.

Now she realized the truth, the fact that she now a decision to make. Jake and Trevor, or the Huntsclan because Jake was right. While she had power in an underground organization that hunted things that in the eyes of the mortal world didn't exist, she didn't in the real world. She would never be able to get Trevor back if he took him away from her. So now she had to get her priorities in check and this was the hardest thing that she would ever have to do.

* * *

Maggie's eyes widened at the sight of the bits of Jake's destroyed blackberry on the phone. Her heels clicked against the floors she walked further in the room and laid her eyes on her boss. He stood there with his arms folded across his wrapped chest, staring blankly out the window. Not knowing what to say, she bent down and began to pick up the pieces of the phone. Snickering slightly, she looked back up to Jake, "Was there a bomb in your phone?"

"I'm sorry, I had a little anger flare up," Jake cracked a grin there was a tad bit of force behind of, "Can you make sure that I get a brand new one?"

Maggie nodded, "How as your talk with Ms. Thorn?"

"She and I have said what's needed to be have been said," Jake said stoically, "The balls in her court now, but enough of that, any news?"

"Just a scathing call from Max when you didn't answer," Maggie said, "I told him to shove and that you were busy."

Jake smiled again, "You're lucky you work for me, anyone else would have fired you by now if you didn't have a sense of humor."

"Brian Staler told me that he'd be here in twenty minutes with a guest," Maggie said cautiously.

He turned and scowled, "Guest?"

"Martin Cox," Maggie simply said, knowing that Jake would know who that was. Martin Cox, the Chairman of the SEC.

"Why is he coming here?" Jake asked.

"You're the owner of INGB," She said without any sort of negative or positive connotation in her voice, "If you, yourself wanted to talk to the SEC, they must know that it's important and they're sort of the sharks circling. They're just itching to find a way into the company to probe it. You know that's it."

Jake nodded, "That's why I wanted to talk to them this early."

"Why?" She said.

"Because, in exchange for arresting Donald on charges of conspiracy, internal uninformed trading, black mail, privacy violations and illegal loans, I'll let them uniformly turn the company inside out," He said tapping his fingers on the crook of his elbows, "Don't try to stop me, I'm doing it."

Maggie smiled, "On the contrary, I'm supportive of your decision. After all, I was the one who wanted you to go to the SEC directly. If you have to open up the company to the Government in order to get complete control back."

"Good," Jake smiled and walked towards Maggie and wrapped his arms tightly around her to give her a tight hug. When he let go, he smiled and walked back to the window, "Now make yourself useful, get me a phone."

Maggie smiled and saluted, "Yes sir."

* * *

Three Federal SUVs pulled into the parking garage at the Hospital. Their red and blue lights were blinking near the top as the nationwide signal for an emergency trip. The center SUV contained the Chairman of the SEC and the Head of the FBI SEC Bureau. The Head of the FBI SEC Bureau was in charge of enacting the SEC's judgments. If the SEC wanted someone and the wanted person refused to show, it was his job to go and get that person.

Brian Staler was that man and he was very curious to see what his good friend, Jake Long, had for him. He knew that the company Jake ran was a target for a silent probe by the SEC, but they hadn't had any grounds to initiate a silent probe. He also knew that Jake knew this and that's why he was curious. If he were in Jake's shoes, he'd want to avoid the SEC.

"Brian," Martin said, "This had better be good to drag me out of a meeting with the Secretary of the Treasury himself, now where the hell are we?"

"Jacob Long's secretary gave me a call a half an hour ago," Brian said as he motioned for the SEC Chairman to follow him onto the elevator, "Don't you want to know why Jake is suddenly wanting to talk to us, he knows that you're targeting him for a probe and wouldn't he wanted to avoid you."

The look on Martin's worn face was that of contemplation, and then the older man nodded, "It must be serious if he would want to talk to us personally, and wasn't he just down in a car accident on Fifth Avenue?"

"That's adding to my suspicions that this is very serious," Brain nodded.

* * *

Jake sighed and looked at the television. CNN was running a special on his business ventures and accomplishments in life. He didn't understand it. They were approaching this as if he was dead and buried. He made a note to himself to fire the head of CNN when he got back to INGB as CEO. CNN was the weakest link in their News Broadcasting Empire. Some changes were in the order. He would have to make them later. This meeting was more important at the moment. He was about to meet the head of the FBI's SEC Branch and the Chairman of the SEC himself, everything depended on this.

"Jake," Brian said as three people entered the Suite, it was Margret, Brian and Martin Cox. Maggie made sure to come in ahead of the other two to hand Jake the brand new Blackberry that she had rushed out and gotten and made sure to have fit to the exact details to the previous one, "You owe me a thousand dollars when my next credit card payment is due, is that good?"

The former American Dragon nodded and looked down to the screen at the new cell phone. He opened up the text message screen and typed in Maxwell's number and then proceeded to write him a lengthy message. Without looking up, he finally acknowledged the Chairman of the SEC and the FBI Agent, "I'm sorry Gentleman, I was just sending a text message to my CFO, I broke my phone earlier and I need to get him up to speed, first I want to thank you both for coming on really short notice, but it's very important."

Chairman Cox walked forward, "Let's cut to the chase Mr. Long?"

"Ok," Jake looked up from his blackberry, "I want to make a deal Mr. Cox."

The Chairman's eyebrows raised, "As long as it doesn't violate the law."

"In this case it doesn't," He said as he looked down to the phone and to the text message that he had just received, despite the fact that he had just now gotten this phone, Maggie must have asked for the same number. Looking over to his secretary, he scowled, "Call Max, tell him that I'm meeting with the FBI and the SEC right now and he cannot stop me from doing it."

Maggie nodded and made her way to the door, Jake then turned and looked back the two men, "As I was saying, this deal is 100% Percent Legal, I've been planning it out for the past few days and I've had it vetted. Do you want to hear it, because if not, I'll go the FTC with this bombshell and they'll get the glory and you, oh exulted Chairman of the SEC will get squat?"

Chairman Cox nodded begrudgingly. Mr. Long had always known how to press his buttons. It was a well established fact that Cox and Jake didn't like each other, "I assume that you have a consent form to initiate a probe?"

Cox nodded and produced a folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket, again, Long knew how things got down and what he had to do to get the things he wanted. He tossed it on Jake's lap and watched as his, _well, hell, let's call a spade a spade_, arch-nemesis opened it up. He narrowed his eyes when Jake smirked and looked back up to him, "Alright, now for my terms?"

"Name them," Cox said simply.

"How would you feel if you were able to place Donald Wilson under federal arrest for illegal loans, blackmail, Inter-Board Stock Trading, privacy violations and for being just a general pain in the ass, _today_?" Jake asked with a smile, he knew that he was going to get this by the thoughtful look on the Chairman of the SEC's face, "What about it Mr. Chairman, interested."

"So let me get this straight," Chairman Cox put his hand on hips and began to scratch the bridge of his nose in exasperated shock, "You want me to abuse my power of ordering the FBI to make arrests, so that you can what? Return to power at INGB? You know that I'm not going to allow an investigation to be launched."

Jake laughed, "You call Maxwell Stoops my CFO, he'll gladly send you all of the documented evidence that we've assembled on him. I'll also give you Henry Donatella and Grand Cayman Bank, because if you surprise him with a sudden SEC or hell _even_ Federal Raid, you'll find that over 90% Percent of his vault has been loaned out to none other than to Donald Wilson. Again, I have the records and photos to prove it and when you find the dates that the cash was loaned out, you'll find that they are a perfect match, do I have your attention?"

"You've almost convinced me," Cox smiled, "But sweeten the pot for me?"

"Well, earlier this morning, Donald not only contacted all of the banks that I have money in, worldwide, but he also blackmailed several of the traders and employees to give him my financial records," Jake smiled as both of the men's eyebrows rose, "That's a privacy violation of about $21.5 Billion Dollars in Cash, $14 Billion Dollars in my personal assets in both respects, and violation of my corporate records."

"That's blackmail, privacy violations, Inter-Board Trading and illegal loans, that's four felonies, if he gets nailed on the Blackmail, Privacy Violations and Loans at least, it's thirty years maximum," Cox chuckled and nodded motioning to the form in Jake's lap, "You have a deal Mr. Long, you give the SEC a full and silent probe, not to mention your evidence on Donald Wilson, I'll place him under Federal Arrest."

He nodded, "Do you have a pen?"

Reaching into the pocket on his shirt, he handed Jake and pen, to which Jake put the paper on the tray and unfolded the form. Signing the form with a long stroke, he handed the pen back to Cox and the Form second. Smiling, he turned to Brian, "Make the call Agent Staler."

Brian looked at Cox for confirmation and when the Chairman of the SEC nodded, Brian whipped out his cell phone. Dialing in the phone number of the FBI-SEC Station Chief for San Francisco, Brian sighed in exasperation. He hated technology, and when they finally picked up, he ran his hand through his hair, "Agent Jeffries, this is Agent Brian Staler, Chief of the this branch of the Bureau, the Chairman has just given the order for Donald Wilson at INGB to be arrested on charges of Privacy Violations, Blackmail, Illegal Loans and Inter-Board. He'd be at their Corporate HQ."

"Do you want him on a plane out there?" Agent Jeffries asked, he was the Station Chief of the Mid-Section of California.

"Yes," Brian nodded and walked off away from the two to give further orders to deal with the arrest.

Cox turned to Jake with a stern look, "I suggest you inform your Board that you're now in control again why'll you can, these charges might fail."

Jake smirked, "They won't fail."

* * *

"Jacob," Donald said, pressing the speakerphone on the unit on his desk, well it was Jake's desk, but not for much longer, "I like your office chair."

Donald looked up and narrowed his eyes when he heard Jake laugh, "Don't get too used to it, you should be getting a very unique surprise."

The new Chairman and CEO of INGB set down the paper he was studying and sighed, "What are you on about, what did you do?"

"I just had the most interesting conversation with the Chairman of the SEC himself, and the Head of the FBI Branch of the SEC," Jake chuckled and he could practically hear Donald mind come to a halt, "They should be paying you a visit. I hope you enjoyed your one day as the head of my company, because I can pretty much assure you that with the charges against you, you'll be spending the rest of your miserable life in Prison."

* * *

"I've never seen someone actually foam from the mouth," Maxwell chuckled.

Jake smiled and scratched the back of his head, "Make sure that you send the information to Brian Staler at the FBI, and assemble the Board. I'm going to remind them who's in charge around here, who wrote the Company Charter and who controls the Board. Do you think that freezable?"

"Well there in town," Maxwell chuckled, "I assume that you want to assume the reigns as CEO, that's the only way you could call a meeting."

"Only for this, you'll be interim CEO again until I'm completely recovered," Jake snickered, "And Max, I'm disappointed. I assume you remember sub-code _94534_ of Company Policy?"

Maxwell cracked a grin, "I almost forgot, it's been awhile since it's been in use. So, I'll call Board Meeting, and here's to your victory, _Mr. Chairman_."

* * *

"I assume that you've all heard of Chairman Wilson's arrest?" Jake asked over the speakerphone. Everyone was there, even Rose, by phone too, and the three words that they had exchanged had been incredibly awkward.

There was affirmation from all around the table and with that, Maxwell stood up and looked down at all of them. He was in a new level of pissed off with these people and he was about to enjoy this very much. He knew that most of them had good intentions, but they should not have turned against Jake and himself. They'd pay for their betrayal, "As Vice Chairman of the Board, I would like to recommend to the Chief Executive Officer that he enact, INGB Code 94534."

"What he means is, in the event of the arrest of an Executive of this Company, the next person in the line of seniority will assume the role of the arrested person," Jake said fluently, he knew it by heart, he wrote the damn code himself ten years ago when he took the Company Public for the second time, "Donald Wilson was the Principle Stock Holder of this Company, he is now under Federal Arrest, which means that the secondary Principle Stock Holder, myself, can ascend to a higher position."

They could all hear Jake smiling, "Which means that I am once again Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of INGB. Now, there are a few things I'd like to discuss. One, the thing I had to do to get the SEC to Make Donald's arrest, I will cement my positions that I'm once again in by banning Donald Wilson from holding Stock in this Company, and _who's_ head will role for making the very big mistake of promoting Wilson."


	32. Chapter 31 – Consolidation

**Chapter 30 – Consolidation**

"I've been looking over the transcripts of the meeting and granted, you all defended the position of not granting Donald the spot as CEO," Jake scolded the Board, Margret had given him the complete lowdown on the Board Meeting that had given Donald complete control of INGB for four hours, "Nevertheless, you all understood what you were doing, it should have been as clear as day when Maxwell wasn't invited, he would have contested it. Some of you were underprepared. Others knew what they were doing but did it nonetheless. You've all be loyal, for years, for the past decade, but for some of you, I can't forgive it. So here's what's going to happen, we are going to return your full investments at the full price that you paid them and I hereby dissolve this Board. You are all banned from holding shares for five full years from this date."

Some took it personally, some completely understood, but they didn't protest as Jake officially dismissed them. Others were shocked that their tenure had come to an end, but most of them were Chief Executives and they knew that they would react the same way as he did, they didn't take it personally at all. When the room was empty, the only other people who were either there or on a phone were Maxwell and Rose. Maxwell cleared his throat and forced down a laugh, he knew that Jake hadn't dismissed him from the Board. "Boss, I know your beat up, but can I please stay, I like this position and you weren't exactly clear if I stayed or left?"

"Of course," Jake laughed, "I really couldn't do this without you, but I'm going to be taking a more hands-on approach in the future so that this episode won't repeat."

"Thanks," Max smiled and then he looked to the phone that was placed to Jake's left, that was the line that Ms. Thorn was connected too, "You want some privacy?"

"Yeah, and don't worry about the Board, you've got plenty of other things to do and I'm going to hand pick the replacements," Jake assured him.

Max sighed and smiled, "Thanks Jake, I'll talk to you later."

"You too Max," Jake responded and a few seconds later when he heard to the door to the room close, he finally summoned up courage, "How are you doing?"

"Well not too good," Rose said glumly, "I'm out here on my balcony thinking about a few things."

"You're actually considering it?" He was actually surprised.

"What do you expect me to do Jake? I know that if you wanted to take Trevor, I would have no ability to fight back," Rose sighed and her voice grew quieter, "And you're holding yourself away from me too, I'm in love with you Jake, I have been for 16 years and even when we were apart and I was pissed at you, I never stopped. You're asking me to give up the only thing that I've ever known and I can't help but think about it. But I'm beginning to understand that you're right about Trevor and the eh-…?"

Jake's brow furrowed, "What is it?"

"Is this phone line secure?" Rose asked.

"Yes," Jake answered.

"Well in that case, I realize that you are right about Trevor and the Huntsclan," Rose said and Jake felt completely elated, "And I've come to a conclusion."

Jake closed his eyes, he really hopped that she would choose him and Trevor over them, "And what is that Rose? Do I need to call my lawyers?"

"No," Rose hissed, "Tonight, I'm going to step down as Huntsmistress and take Trevor with me, but I have some unfinished business to take care of."

The former American Dragon had an ear-to-ear grin on his face, "And what is that?"

"You remember the Range Rover that slammed into us?" Rose asked.

"How could I forget?" Jake asked, rubbing his sore head.

Rose took her time saying this, because she knew that Jake would want to come to the Huntsclan and rip these people into shreds, "Well, I ordered it pulled out of the NYPD Yard and records of it and the event itself deleted, because it came from the garage of Range Rovers that I furnished for my Hunters and it's marked with security that we implemented to get into the Academy. Not to mention that the automated Driving Apparatus Technology was put into it. I have literally dozens of people trying to find out who did this and I'm going to fuck them up and kill them before I step down."

"So what your saying is? A Rouge Hunter slammed into us?" Jake asked.

"That's essentially correct, yes," Rose answered.

"Well, after you fuck them up, put a bullet in their head, a gift from me," Jake spat with malice in his voice, "I know you're planning on worse."

"Are you kidding? I'm going to break this person in all forms of the word before I kill them," Rose affirmed.

* * *

Sometime after her phone call with Jake, Rose sat in her office, staring at the letter that she had just written. It read in part that she was leaving because she couldn't put her child in danger anymore, but to appease the hardliners, she added in the nifty little sentiment that she would always dedicate her life to the purity of all life on Earth, in truth she didn't give a flying fuck. Rose had already severed all ties with them and deleted all of her records so that no one could find her, but she couldn't bring herself to leave just yet. When she got the call that they had found the poor prick, she'd pay them a visit.

And then, _only_ then could she finally leave.

"Mistress," The Assistant peeked her head into the door, "May I speak with you?"

"Of course," Rose nodded and held up a hand, "In fact, I needed to speak with you as well, it's very important."

"Well, you should know that we've found the person responsible for your accident earlier today," The Assistant responded, "After the car that ran into you was checked out, she returned and departed on her assignment on Long Island, she's currently on the Long Island Expressway. I've ordered her to be pulled out of her car the moment that she's back in the parking Garage. Now, what is it that you wished to speak with me about Huntsmistress?"

Getting up from her chair, Rose smiled and walked to one of the adjacent bookshelf on the right. Picking out that one book that would trigger the mechanism that hid the entrance to the tunnel, she pulled it back and the worn shelf pulled out slightly and then slid right. Holding up her hand, she beckoned her assistant down the tunnel. This was the traditional quarters of the Huntsmaster, but she had chosen to take quarters that were above ground. The long connecting series of catacombs were used by the very first Huntsmaster to ever exist, right to her Uncle. She had been the one to break a chain that had gone back 1,000 Years, but she knew that the Assistant would reconstitute the tradition, "Huntsmistress, this is ground worthy to you only, I would be committing sacrilege by just walking past the bookshelf."

"Oh don't worry," Rose dismissed her, "Aren't you aware that only the Apprentice of the Huntsmaster, the Huntsmaster or Mistress and his or her chosen successor can only step past that line?"

The other woman's eyes grew unsteadily wide, "A-Are you saying-…?"

"What do you think?" Rose asked and beckoned the woman to follow her.

With the other woman still refusing to move, apparently out of shock, Rose smiled and motioned back to her desk and the paper that was sitting on it, "You want your answers, there on that paper."

The Assistant blinked and turned back to the desk, she picked up the paper and studied it. There were only two sentences on it, but they made the point clear. The Assistant set the point down and looked back to the Huntsmistress standing in the entranceway to the Huntsmaster's Catacombs. Rose put her right hand on her hips and smirked, "The line of the Huntsmaster has not been broken in 1,000 Years, and do you really want to be the first one to do that. If you do want to preserve that chain, you'll follow me, or if you want to break it and leave a vacuum in the organization, you'll go out that door. So, what is it?"

* * *

"Why are you doing this Mistress?" The Assistant asked as they made their way down the well maintained tunnels.

Rose turned back and offered her a supportive smile, "Because I realize now that I want something different, not that I didn't dream about being Huntsmistress when I was younger, but after I gave birth, that aspiration grew fuzzy and I really didn't know what I wanted after that. It took a swift kick in the ass to make me realize that I just want to me a mother to my son and give him all of the attention that he deserves and I don't have the time to fully commit to him if I have to do this as well. So out of respect to the Huntsclan but out of devotion to my kid, I have to do this, I hope you understand that."

"I do," The Assistant nodded, "I wish all the luck in the world, and don't worry. You won't hear hell or high water of us."

"Thanks," Rose nodded as they approached the end, "But before I formally install you, I have to ask you a favor?"

"What?" The other woman asked.

"When you are officially Huntsmistress," Rose smiled mischievously, "Could you hold off on announcing it, I want to put the fear of god into this bitch and it won't work if I just announced resignation."

The Assistant nodded, "After she's dead, only then will I announce it."

Rose winked, "Thanks, now follow me."

* * *

**AN:/ Two more chapters and I'll end it, I'm sad. But I hoped you enjoyed this follow up. **


	33. Chapter 32 – Progression

**Chapter 31 – Progression**

Running her hand through her hair with a heavy sigh, she watched as the Assistant laid her eyes upon the Rite of the Huntsmaster for the very first time. It was an ancient document that was written at the very founding of the Huntsclan, the only people that had laid eyes upon it where the Huntsmaster their Apprentices, and the chosen successor to the Huntsmaster. All that the successor would need to do was read the entire document and they were officially the head of the Huntsmaster, the powers that came with it would also be transferred. She remembered when she herself had read the document and the strangest thing had happened a few seconds afterwards. A green jet of light had transferred from her very sickly Uncle to her. That transfer was also the reason that his death was blamed on, because three hours later, he went into Cardiac Arrest and died. The Doctors had blamed it on the stress of his already incredibly weak body. She was incredibly fit and significantly younger, so she wasn't afraid of it.

"Do you swear to uphold the laws, beliefs and powers of the Huntsclan onto death?" Rose asked in the traditional passage, she herself had violated this many times, but the Document couldn't call her a liar.

The Assistant nodded and folded her arms behind her back, "I swear to uphold the laws, beliefs and powers onto death and under pain of death."

"Good," Rose nodded and turned back to a case in the back of the room. Inside was an ancient book that spanned back to the very first day of the Huntsclan, it had been signed from every single person to hold the powers of the Huntsmaster, Rose's signature was the last one in and now the Assistants would be joining it. Running her hand over the keypad, she entered the code that was given to her when she finally succeeded and put her thumb on the scanner. The book was the Holy Grail to the Huntsclan and that's why it was put under such a big lock and key. It was contained in the climate controlled case to protect it from outside forces and could only be taken out for ten minutes before it began degeneration, "In this book are the names of some of the most noble of our Order, for One Thousand Years, the men and women that signed this book went onto make legends out of themselves and brought our Clan to new heights. I trust by giving you the power of the Huntsmaster, you will use it to the best of your ability?"

"Yes Ma'am," She nodded and looked down to the Rite one last time, "I'm ready."

"Recite the entire document to me," Rose ordered.

And it begun and her time as Huntsmistress began to draw to a rapid conclusion.

* * *

Kiera Michaels put the car in park and sighed as she pulled the key out of the ignition, she had just failed in her lookout assignment and she had been made. She would suffer reprimand for it indefinitely and she wasn't in the mood to battle the Mother Kraken. Sighing deeply, she opened the door and when she found that she was surrounded, her eyebrows rose. Kiera didn't recognize any of them, they simply looked at her as if she was the scum of the earth. In fact that all had murder in their eyes, "Is there something that I can help you with? I've had a long day gentlemen and I'd like to get some sleep."

"Are you Kiera Michaels? Identification Number 43253?" The lead person of this group asked her, Kiera nodded.

"And do you check out a car around ten?" The man asked again.

Kiera nodded, but she was keeping face. She had a feeling…

"And do you check into the developmental lab this morning and take an Automated Driving Panel?" The man asked and this time, all of the people around her began to move closer.

And before she could say a word, she was knocked out a clean by a swift and very hard closed fist punch to the face.

* * *

"Congratulations," Rose said before she kneeled down, very slowly. It had been a long time since she had bowed and referred to anyone other then herself as Huntsmistress, "Mistress."

That was fucking surreal.

"Thank you very much, and with the powers of the office, I herby grant your request for termination from the Huntsclan, after your last confrontation of course," The new Huntsmistress nodded.

* * *

Rose followed the Huntsmistress out of the tunnel closely. It was the strangest thing that she had experienced in a very long time. She had referred to herself as the Huntsmistress for a decade and now to refer to someone else with that name was the strangest thing in the entire world. But Rose had to remind herself of what was waiting outside of this building. A new start, a new life with her son and the man who might as well be her Husband, this chapter of her life was ending and as much as it was an exciting, if not tumultuous chapter, she was ready to start the next page. Watching as the Huntsmistress stood at the door, waiting for her to do what she needed to do. Rose looked up to her and winked as she stepped behind the desk. She had a special gift for the little bitch who tried to kill her and her son.

Opening the top left drawer, she grasped the gold plated Desert Eagle equipped with a silencer and loaded a clip into the gun itself, "I made my first kill with this thing, and I'm going to make my last with it."

With that, she turned and joined the new Huntsmistress.

* * *

Kiera was hauled to the floor in the middle of the top level common room where everyone in the highest echelon of the Huntsclan was there. They had received a message to be there by the Huntsmistress herself and they all had the distinct feeling that she planned on making a public execution. Many of them had another feeling as to why Kiera was going to be killed.

Kiera Michaels was the Daughter of the now Late Councilman Elliot Michaels and from the way that he died, they knew the motive at least.

"Kiera Michaels? The Daughter of Elliot Michaels?" Rose laughed as she and the new Huntsmistress stepped off of the elevator, "_How precious_."

"_You evil, despicable, conniving, psychopathic bitch_! I knew that it would be a long shot to get you in a car wreck, but I had to hedge my bets. You killed my father," Kiera hissed as Rose approached her with the widest grin on her face. Rose truly thought that this was precious, Daddies Little Girl avenging her father's death, "I should have just blew you into pieces with a rocket."

Rose put her free hand on her hip and raised her eyebrow, "And you expose the existence of the Huntsclan just because I killed your Daddy? Well, Daddy wouldn't appreciate that. In fact if he were here right now he'd punish you for your riskiness. But Daddy isn't here right now is he? He's in an Urn, an Urn above my fireplace as a matter of fact. Oh wait, I dumped it out last night and poured the ashes in my fireplace, so that's where Daddy is."

Kiera growled and lunged forward, but this time, she was able to break free and lunge at Rose. But Rose, the elder and more rational of the two was able to drive the handle into her forehead and knock her down. Rose smiled as her forehead began to bleed. The girl looked at up Rose with fresh blood running down her forehead. She was caught now, with no chance of getting her revenge. This evil bitch was going to succeed in her quest to whip her family off of the face of the earth. She sneered when Rose walked forward and stood over her and growled when Rose leaned over her.

"You want to know the last thing that your father ever did?" Rose whispered.

She leaned in closer and pressed the barrel of the gun tightly into the girl's forehead, "He recoiled, and he cowered, like the coward that he was…"

* * *

**AN:/ One more chapter and then the Epilogue. **


	34. Chapter 33 – Devices

**Chapter 32 – Devices**

"There the most expensive pieces in our vault, only available to customers that we know have the money to pay for it, so far none have come forward in the over 150 years that we've had possession of them," The Jeweler smiled as he led Jake into the special vault. He had been at Tiffany's for fifteen minutes and all he had to say was his name before the special treatment came in. Jake was there for one reason, a ring, and it was a ring that he wanted to give to Rose and a ring that he wanted her to wear for the rest of her life, "It was very hard to procure, they were actually one of the very first jewels that our founder, Charles Tiffany ever acquired, that was in 1842. He paid a total of $40 Million Dollars for both pieces, both where in possession of the French Government at the time. Both pieces were casted in 1745 to commemorate the birth of Maria Luisa of Spain, the Empress Consort of the Holy Roman Empire and Queen Consort of modern day German, Hungry and Italy. In 1750 it was added to the House of Hapsburg's Imperial Crown Jewels and was eventually passed down to the Empress Maria Theresa, now pay attention closely because this is where the value of the jewels come in, do you already know this story?"

Jake shook his head, he knew nothing of history, but it was fascinating to hear and honestly it made him want to buy both of the pieces, "No, but I'm listening."

The other man smiled, "Well, Empress Maria Theresa was the Empress Consort of the Holy Roman Empire, and was the full on Queen of Bohemia and Hungry and the Archduchess of Austria. She had sixteen children, one of which went on to be even more famous then her mother. She went on to become the Queen of France, but she was a doomed Queen and she was ultimately the last Queen of France."

"Are you telling me that these jewels belonged to Marie Antoinette?" Jake's eyes widened, he was starting to understand why no one had bought them. They must have been worth a fortune.

The jeweler nodded, "When Marie Antoinette married Louis the XVI, Empress Maria Theresa gave these jewels to her daughter on her wedding day. Well, no in a sense, that's not correct, the French Royal Court more _demanded_ that Maria Theresa give the jewels to Marie Antoinette for when she came to France. They said that they had claim on them because of the woman that they were minted for. Maria Luisa of Spain was also a member of the House of Bourbon, the Royal House that Louis the XVI belonged with and now that Marie Antoinette was marrying into that house, they had the right to re-claim them. These were her favorite jewels and she hated giving them to the French, but she didn't contest it when Marie left Vienna for Paris. The Empress never saw the Jewels again, even when she tried to get them back."

"Wait," Jake scratched his head, "If this Maria Luisa lady was a member of both the House of Bourbon and the House of Habsburg, wouldn't that make Louis and Marie-…"

He nodded his head, "Distant Cousins? Yes, that's correct, but it was common, all of the Royal Houses of Europe are related to each other because of inter-marrying and inbreeding. But back to my point, in the years after she got married, Marie wore these Jewels constantly and when the French Revolution was in full swing, Marie was still wearing them. She wore them until the day she and her family were arrested. these were in fact the very last pieces of Jewelry that Marie Antoinette wore before her head was cut off. And before you ask, we've had this verified over and over for the past 150 Years, we know it's true."

"And that's why they're valuable?" Jake asked with a nod, he finally got it.

"That and the fact that Empress Maria Theresa considered invading France after her daughter was killed, just to get them back," He said as he entered the last security code to get into the vault. There were deep underground at the point and they were behind the maze of security that Tiffany's had placed around the jewels, "But she didn't and they remained in the possession of the French Government. It was rumored that the ring in this set was worn by Josephine Bonaparte at Napoleons Coronation as Emperor of France, but we've never been able to verify that claim, that would make them even more valuable. So, when Charles Tiffany purchased them from the French Government, they were selling relics of the state for a source of income. In 1842, they were worth $40 Million Dollars, care to estimate now?"

Jake looked up the ceiling and did the math, '_If you inflated $40,000,000 Dollars for what it was worth then and adjust it to the value of the Dollar now it would be-…Holy Shit…_', Jake laughed and shook his head, no, he knew jewelry was expensive, but it couldn't possibly be that expensive. Folding his arms over his chest, he snorted and shook his head, "That's impossible, that's down right robbery."

"We've priced them at $900 Million Dollars," The Jeweler nodded with a smile, "That's why we've never been able to sell them, with all of the history behind them, we get plenty of people who want to see them and for awhile, we considered giving them to a museum so that they could go on display. Mr. Long, they're the last pieces of jewelry that Marie Antoinette ever wore, Josephine Bonaparte reportedly wore them at Napoleon's Coronation as Emperor of France and they're one of the last known remaining pieces of the Hapsburg-Bourbon Imperial Crown Jewels that are still in private possession. You did not expect us to price them so lowly. This is what they are worth Mr. Long, now answer me one thing, do you want to consider buying them, because with your money, I'd be more then happy to show you the pieces"

Jake narrowed his eyes, "A ring and a necklace that's worth $900 Million Dollars to give to them woman that I'm madly in love with. You know, I've never been one to spend my cash on such things, but what the hell."

Besides, Rose would go nuts for them, he was sure of that.

* * *

"This is the most surreal moment of my life," Rose smiled as she stood outside the Huntslair's cover building with the new Huntsmistress, she had an angelic look on her face, "I trust that you can handle things around here?"

The Huntsmistress nodded with a smile, "You know I can, I've been your right hand for ten years and I think I can step up the plate. I just want you to go on with your life, and be the mother that Trevor wants you to be. I'd do anything for that boy and never forget that. If you ever need help, if you are ever in a bind that you can find you way out of, you know that I'll be an ally when you need one."

"Thanks," Rose winked and hauled the bag over her shoulder, "And you know who to call if you have questions."

The Huntsmistress nodded.

"Good, I'll hopefully never see you around" Rose said with another grin and with one, hopefully final glance to the building that had been her home for her entire life, she turned on her heel and began to walk down the street. But when she was to the end of the block, her phone rang with a text message. Setting the bag down on the ground, she looked at the text message, it was from Jake.

To this day, a text message from the man sent a warm, fluttery feeling through her:

**Hey, I'll be at my parents at around 3:00, can you be there, I've got a surprise for you :)**

Rose smiled and looked at the time, it was 2:47. She ought to be going.

* * *

When you thought Imperial Crown Jewel, you thought of a crown and possible a scepter, you did not think about what Jake was looking at.

Inside two velvet lined cases were some of the most stunning things that Jake had ever seen in his entire life. The ring was diamond and ruby encrusted with a very large diamond in the center. He knew how to spot failures in the structure of a jewel and he saw nothing. The size was perfect, Jake had always known Rose's finger size, from when he was holding them or feeling them jabbed into his ribs. But he almost wanted to propose to her with the necklace. The necklace itself was made out of solid gold and the jewels embedded in it, which were practically the size of his fist, were very large and rectangular and all across the surface. They were truly worth $900 Million Dollars. Jake began to picture the expression of Rose's face when he gave them to her and he knew then that the boatload of money to get both of them was indeed worth it.

He turned to the jeweler, "I'll take them, get it out of my account."

"Yes s-sir," The jeweler had to admit that even he was shocked by this sale, the sale that they had been attempting to make for the past 100 Years, "Shall I have a guard escort you to your car?"

Jake shook his head, "No, I'll keep them safe, just give me the cases that they're in right there.

* * *

"I don't know," Rose said as she sat back into the Long's recliner, "He just told me to meet him here."

Jonathan Long shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Well he hasn't even come by to see me since I've been back from my trip, what's up with that exactly?"

"Don't worry, it's nothing personal, he's been a little busy," Rose smiled and watched as her son walked down from the stairs. In a moment of pure jubilation, Rose bolted out of the chair and embraced her son.

* * *

When the Limousine pulled up in front of his parent's home, Jake nervously fiddled with the two heavy cases in his hand. He had never done this before and the nervousness was literally killing him. And he was doing it in a big way, whenever he did things, he never did them modestly. He was proposing to the love of his life with pieces of the Imperial Crown Jewels of one of the most infamous Imperial Dynasties in Recorded History, that should have been proof enough, but the fact that he spent $100 Million Dollars short of $1 Billion should have clinched it. Nodding to himself, he exhaled deeply. He was going to do this if it killed him. He had wanted to do this with Rose since he was fifteen. It was about fucking time he did it.

When his driver opened the door, Jake pulled himself out of the Limo and smiled at the man, "You can take the rest of the day. I'll just walk."

The Driver smiled, "Whatever you say sir."

* * *

Jake was looking nervous, and it made Rose nervous.

When he approached her with the two black cases in his hand, her nervousness grew intense. Her cover personality took over and she put a hand on her hip in a daring look, "I get punished if I open the wrong one?"

"No," Jake leaned down on one knee and held both cases in his right and left hand, "Both of them mean the same thing, it just depends on what you want first, but you'll have to open them to find out what's in them."

Rose narrowed her eyes and her hand darted for the right one. It was heavy, and it must have been designed to serve as a fucking lockbox for as tight as it was. When she finally pried it open, her breath was taken right out of her.

"Dear God," Rose held her free hand to her chest, the ring was amazing, beautiful and when she managed to put it on her right ring finger, she noted that it was much heavier then she had thought, "How much did this cost?"

Jake set the empty case on the coffee table and looked back to the kitchen, his Son, Mom and Dad had given them privacy and he'd need it. When he opened up the larger case, he heard her gasp, "Well, it's not polite to ask that question, but for what I'm about to ask you, you deserve to know and you deserve to know how much I care about you in monetary terms. I'll tell you the story behind the jewels, but their worth is about $900 Million."

Her eyes widened as she took in the necklace, "J-J-Jake?"

"Will you marry me?" Jake asked with a smile.

Prying her eyes off of the necklace, her usual personality took over. Rose raised and eyebrow and cracked a grin, "Are you kidding me Dragon Boy?"

Rose took the case out of Jake's hand and set it on the table before turning back to him with a smile. She walked closer to him and placed a quick kiss on his lips, "It would be the honor of my life."

* * *

**AN:/ The Epilogue is left, oh and by the way, that amount for jewels is not farfetched, there have even been Diamonds (although they're usually the size of a pumpkin) that have sold for a $1 Billion Dollars. Anyway, leave a review for this final chapter and get ready for the gushy ending in the Epilogue. **


	35. Epilogue – Part I

**Epilogue – Part 1 **

**25 Years Later…**

"Are you sure that you're ready to take this on?" Jake asked with a raised eyebrow, he had been grooming the boy, no man, standing in front of his desk to become Chief Executive Officer of International and National General Broadcasting Company for five years. He had approached him several times within the past year to ask him if he was ready, all of those times, he had said no, but last month, he had finally said yes and Jake had spent that time preparing for the transition. Jake was sure that his eldest son, Trevor Long, the current Chief Financial Officer was indeed mentally capable and ready to finally sit in the big chair, "We can wait if you want."

Trevor nodded with his arms behind his back, he had been dreaming of this day since he was ten years old, and when his father had asked him to become CEO, he had turned it down. He had turned it down because he felt that he, himself, was not ready. That was different now and at the end of the day he'd still have his father to ask for advice. They had made the decision that the practical architect of the Company should still have a say in affairs of the company, so Jake was staying on as Chairman of the Board of Directors and becoming a Chief Advisor to the CEO. He was merely relinquishing the powers of CEO to Trevor, permanently, "Yes, I'm prepared."

"Good," Jake smiled and got up from his chair and walked around the desk to lay a hand on Trevor's shoulder, "I'll go downstairs, file the paperwork and inform the Board. I want you to head out to the Hamptons and get ready for the party tonight, your sister chewed me out this morning and told me that if we are not out there for the Rehearsal Dinner, she'll skin us alive and your mother will tan what's left and turn us into curtains."

It was quite ironic that the succession from Jake to Trevor was taking place on the very eve that Jake's eldest daughter, Alexandra, was getting married, and not just to anyone. She was going to get married Zachary Stoops, the only child of Maxwell Stoops and his wife that he married shortly after the _'Donald Wilson' _incident. To say that he was shocked when he first found out was an understatement, but he was never against it, he thought of Zach as if he was his own kid and now he was really going to become his kid, Jake was thrilled. But Alex had become more moody with her family as the date approached and the reason was that she wanted everything to be perfect, and from the tongue lashings that they had received over the past two months since the engagement, none of them, none of Jakes two other kids, Rose or Trevor wanted to do anything to set her off.

The younger man grinned and nodded before running his hand through his hair, "Alright, how long do you think it'll take?"

"An hour, you'd better get going now, and don't take the helicopter, that's my getaway vehicle," Jake warned with a teasing grin and a finger point that had made him famous in the Corporate world.

* * *

Rose Long shook her head in exasperation, since she had left the Huntsclan, she had developed patience, but these people were really wearing it down.

The workers that they had hired to set up the backyard for the wedding had gotten everything set up. In fact Rose had thought that they had done a fairly good job with it. But then they set up a tent around the area so that it wouldn't be destroyed overnight, and then some dumbass had decided to fall into one of the supports for the tent and the whole damn thing collapsed over the chairs and the alter, knocking it down. Now, one of two things was going to happen, they were either going to fix the tent and then put everything back in place inside it so her daughter wouldn't see it, or two, they were going to take the tent away and fix everything in plain sight. She knew that Alex inside the house and if she turned, she would see it and there would be an Atomic Explosion in her head, "I want you to fix that tent and put back everything that was knocked down, understand?"

"Yes Mrs. Long," The supervisor nodded and turned to talk to his crew.

Shaking her head once more, she turned and marched back to the house.

After she and Jake had gotten married, they had lived in that apartment that Jake had bought when he had first come back from California and they had raised Trevor and Alexandra in that apartment. But when the both of them went to college, she and Jake had bought this huge estate out in East Hampton. 15 Bedrooms, 17 Bathrooms, massive kitchen and living room, a den, library, a pool and hot tub, they had a damn helicopter pad and they owned the half of mile of beach that was on the other side of the house, and it was all for the nice sum of $100 Million Dollars. After the $900 Million Dollars that Jake had spent on her wedding ring and that necklace, Rose felt inclined to go in half and half with him on the house, so she paid $50 Million and he paid the other $50 Million. They had lived in the house for a long time by themselves with Trevor and Alex staying with them every now and then, but then Rose got pregnant again, with fraternal twins. It was one of those late in life pregnancies and they were both thrilled, but their plans of living out their year with just each other were put off.

But Rose wouldn't give up Morgan and Shawn for the world.

When she stepped into the house, her youngest daughter Morgan was laughing at the sight in their backyard, "You are so lucky that Alex didn't see what just happened."

Rose raised an eyebrow, "Where is she?"

"Getting dressed for the Rehearsal Dinner," Morgan grinned and put a strand her lose blonde hair behind her ear, "Speaking of which, I have to do that too."

"Yeah go ahead," Rose waved her off and looked in confusion around the house, "Where the hell is your brother?"

Morgan turned and smiled, "He's in bed, he's really sick. I had to help him when he started puking earlier."

* * *

She had gone upstairs and straight to her son's room, opening the door, she saw her son bundled up in his blankets and she knew that he was faking this. He looked pale and she swore that she could see a layer of sweat on his forehead. Frowning, she opened the door wider and walked in. Sighing, she leaned forward and felt his forehead, he was burning up. It broke Rose's heart to see one of her children like this, "Sweetie, what's wrong."

"I don't know," Shawn shook his head and coughed into his head, "I had lunch and then I was okay for a little while, and then when I came up here to get dressed, I started feeling nauseous, and then started puking."

"What did you eat?" Rose raised an eyebrow, they didn't cook much in the kitchen and it was quite possible that her son picked something that was well past its expiration date.

"I fixed some Tuna Salad," Shawn answered with blurry, puzzled eyes.

"In the lower far left cabinet?" Rose asked, it was more then likely that her son had gotten food poising. She knew for a fact that she had bought Tuna in cans a year and a half ago.

Shawn nodded his head and Rose sighed and got up from the bed, "Alright, I'll bet this house that you have food poisoning, I need to take you to the ER, like right now. So get dressed and meet me down stairs."

"What about the Rehearsal Dinner?" Shawn groaned and began to pull himself out of the bed.

"You weren't going either way, I'd make sure that your sister wouldn't give you any shit," Rose rubbed her temples, "I'll take you to the ER, then back here and then I'll go to the dinner, get dressed."

* * *

"What?" Alexandra Long turned and hissed at her mother.

Rose put her hands on her hips and glared at her daughter, Alex wasn't a brat, nor did she walk around with this feeling of answering to a higher power, she was just on edge for her wedding tomorrow. But this little, _I'm the Queen and a Grade A Bitch_ routine wasn't flying really well with her. She still had her responsibilities to Morgan and Shawn to think about, and right now, Shawn was in his bedroom, looking half dead and puking his guts up with food poising, "Alexandra Long, your brother needs to go to the Emergency Room because he has food poising, now I'm happy that your getting married and I'm all for it, so I will be a little late for the dinner, but your father, brother and sister will be there. I will bring your brother back here after he's checked out and I'll be there a little late, now calm your happy ass down and deal with it! Give me a call if you need anything, understand Alex?"

Alex sighed, "Yes Mom."

* * *

Morgan Long held the hair straighter in her hand with expert precision as she focused on the final thing that needed to be done. It wasn't enough that her boyfriend couldn't make it tonight, it was also the fact that she was worried about her brother and that her sister was going ballistic on anyone who didn't do things the way she wanted them. From her room, two doors down from the one that Alex was staying it, she could hear her constant state of bitching. Truthfully, it was starting to piss her off.

The thing that clenched it was when Alex had this seemingly inability to understand that her brother needed to go to the emergency room. That had made Morgan see read. She loved Alex and Trevor, but she had a different relationship with Shawn. He was her twin brother and that thing about twins being to parts of one whole thing was true, and she was incredibly protective of her brother and vice-versa.

"You tell that bitch to watch her fucking mouth," Morgan hissed as she watched her mother pass her bathroom door. As she expected, Rose walked back into the doorframe with a heavy scowl on her face.

"You need to watch your mouth too, you can curse every now and then, but don't you curse every other word," Rose sighed, "And despite the fact that your sister is acting like a female dog, she understands. If Trevor or your father get back here, you go ahead and leave with them and if there not here by the time we have to go, you go ahead and go with Alex."

Morgan winced, "Mom, really?"

"I'm sorry, bite your tongue and take it," Rose stared her down.

* * *

"Is she pissed off, because I'll give her something to be pissed off about if she's more concerned about that dinner then her brother," Jake asked into his cellphone, he was in the elevator going to the roof when Rose had called him. That day just got extremely complicated now.

"I set her straight," Rose said, she and Shawn were in the car and Rose was talking with the built in car phone on speaker, "I'm going to taking Shawn to the Emergency Room, make sure he's not going to drop dead or anything, take him by the pharmacy if they give him any medication and take him back home. I'll meet you at the restaurant?"

Jake nodded and stood outside the entrance to the roof, he had to talk a little loudly over the beating of the rotor blade, "I'm getting on the Helicopter right now and Trevor left about forty five minutes ago. He should be there in about twenty five minutes. Oh, and we finally did it."

"You did the transfer?" Rose asked with a bright voice.

"Yes, on Monday, he'll be CEO and I'll be Chairman," Jake smiled as he opened the door to the roof, he spoke even louder when he finally got out onto the roof, "I'll tell you more when I get home, I love you baby!"

"Love you too, bye," Rose said.

"Bye," And then Jake hung up.

* * *

Morgan smoothed down the sides of her black dress as she put the finishing touches on her make-up. She had to admit that she looked great. Her parents always told her that she was a dead ringer for Rose at fifteen years old, sometimes when she dressed like this, it caused her father to turn red with protectiveness, but in the end, he let her remain like it.

"You are way too young to be dressing like that," Trevor commented.

Morgan turned and smirked at her brother, "Maybe, but I don't care."

Trevor smiled and shook his head, "Where's Mom?"

"She took Shawn to the ER," Morgan said, turning back to the mirror and began to apply her eyeliner, "He ate some bad Tuna and she thinks that he's got food poising. She's going to be a little late to the dinner."

"And are you going to head to the restaurant with Alex?" Trevor grinned.

Morgan shook her head, "_Hell no_, can I ride with you?"

"Sure you can," Trevor smiled, "That's better then riding with her."

"Hey," Alex said from the staircase at the far side of the room as the walked down the stairs, "Say that again, and I'll turn you into curtains."

Trevor turned back to his little sister and grinned, "Yeah, Dad told me about your threat, he'll be here soon. Where's Shawn?"

"Mom took him to the hospital, he's faking food poisoning," Alex dismissed it, in her mind everyone was out to sabotage her wedding. Even her kid brother, she just didn't contest it because she knew how her mother was and there wasn't a power alive that could stop her from caring for kids.

"Why don't you just shut the fuck up? You have been on our asses for two months for this wedding and you have gotten extra bitchy for the past few days," Morgan growled and turned to her sister, "Why don't you pull your head out of your ass and grow some feelings again, he is not faking this. If you had to help him up after he fell over from puking, you'd know."

Alex's face screwed up, "How dare you talk to me like that, I ought to-…"

"Come on Bitch, lay a hand on me, I'll knock your fucking teeth out of your mouth so you'll look pretty damn good for the ceremony tomorrow," Morgan actually started to lunge at Alex before Trevor actually had to separate them.

"That is enough," Trevor yelled and grabbed both of his sisters by their collars.

* * *

**AN:/ I've had this written up for days now and with its final draft, I felt that it was way to long to post in one chapter. So, I've decided to split it up into three different parts. So you get a little bit more then I had originally had planned, but it's still all three parts of the same Epilogue. **


	36. Epilogue – Part II

**Epilogue – Part II **

**(PLEASE READ EVERY SINGLE WORD OF THE ****IMPORTANT**** AUTHORS NOTE AT THE END)**

That dinner was opulent in every since of the word, there were rumors that the father of the bride had spent $7 Million Dollars fulfilling his daughters wishes, and that was true to an extent, he had spent $7 Million Dollars on the receptions and parties and the preparation. He had spent nearly $20 Million Dollars on the ceremony, preparations for it, her wedding gift and her honeymoon. It was the third most expensive wedding that had ever taken place in contemporary history. That feat could only have been achieved by Jake Long himself, "How much did he really pay?"

"Spud that's not polite to ask," Trixie Spudinski scolded her husband.

Spud shrugged, but Maxwell Stoops didn't really mind. He had grown to enjoy the company of Jake's childhood friends. Max really found Mr. and Mrs. Spudinski refreshing over the company of the stuffy, conservative attitude of the Socialites that he was forced to be around ninety percent of the time. Sure, when he had retired from INGB ten years ago, his need to do that shit had decreased significantly, but he was still Vice Chairman of the Board of that company and he was on the Board of several different companies, so he had to do it, "Well, Jake and I decided to go half and half on it with me so my half was $13.5 Million Dollars, that would be $27 Million Dollars if he paid the same amount that I did. Yes $27 Million."

"Damn," Trixie mused and took a sip of her drink, "How much did we have to spend on Jamie's wedding?"

"$30,000 Dollars," Spud answered, that sounded pathetic, but he had long given up trying to compete with Jake in terms of money.

Maxwell was so used to snobby, stick-up-their-ass, society wives and husbands that he almost asked them why they had spent such a small change amount on their daughter's wedding, but he was thankfully able to stop himself and was stopped by his son Zach also. To say that his son had been a nervous wreck for the past two months had been an understatement. Well, perhaps it was due to Alexandra's strange moodiness, "Hey."

"Hey Dad," Zach combed his hand through his short cut blonde hair, "Can I talk to you in private for a few moments?"

"Can you excuse us for a few moments?" Max turned and smiled at Spud and Trixie.

"Sure," Trixie nodded and turned to Zach, "Congratulations Zach."

Zach nodded with a smile, "Thank you Mrs. Spudinski, Mr. Spudinski."

When Trixie and Spud were out of earshot, Zach led his father out to one of the many of the balconies and shut the door behind them. The tender Long Island wind blew against them as they walked further out onto the balcony until they reached the end of it. When they got there, Zach grabbed the marble handrail and sighed, "I've been holding this in for a month, but I don't think that I can hold it in much longer. Alex told me that we should wait until after we got married, but I figured that we're getting married tomorrow and we're going to have to tell you sometimes."

"What is it?" Max raised an eyebrow.

"Alex is pregnant, six weeks pregnant," He rubbed his forehead, "I didn't know this when I proposed but apparently she found out about two days before I popped the question. That's why she's been acting like a nut job for the past few weeks. You, I and Alex only know about this, ok?"

Max chuckled, and rubbed his forehead, "That's great, but why the big secret?"

"She wanted to avoid people thinking that I only asked her to marry me because she's pregnant," Zach sighed and leaned against the railing, "This came as a completely surprise to me, I had been planning to ask her for months before and when she told me that she was pregnant with my kid, it only made me feel better in my decision and particularly my timing. I love her, so don't get this confused with me just marrying her because-…"

Max held up a hand, "Don't worry about it, you just go and tell your mother, she's inside."

* * *

"Don't you touch me," Alex warned her little sister, "I'm warning you, I will tear you apart."

By that time, Trevor had actually physically restrained Morgan, but that didn't mean that she couldn't flail about when her anger flared up. Alex had been trying her best to stay in one attitude, one mood and she had been trying desperately not to appear as bipolar as her hormones were making her. She had gone from angry at Morgan to sad that her little sister would want to hurt her. Alex still remembered the first time that the hormones had appeared. She had been home alone and Zach was still in New York at the office and they had been in a text message conversation and when he didn't text her back for several minutes, she had started to bawl like a child. She was literally going to go insane during this entire pregnancy.

"I'm going to kill you!" Morgan shrieked and broke out of Trevor's grasp.

"I'm Pregnant!" Alex shouted as she stepped back.

At that instant, Morgan stopped right in her tracks and stared dumbly at her, Trevor's eyes widened to that of a deer caught in headlights and the door from the back yard shut slowly. All three of the Long Children turned and saw their father standing there, "You're what?"

* * *

Doctor Calloway walked into the private room with the oddest smile on his face.

That pissed Rose off to no end, why the hell would that man be smiling when her child had food poising? Idiot!

"Well, Mr. Long, thanks to the sample of Tuna and the sample that you provided for us," He said to which Rose turned slightly nauseous and Shawn looked embarrassed, "We were able to determine that you have food poisoning, it's not too advanced, luckily and you should get over it without having to have a shot, which would have been on your behind by the way, or antibiotics. Which means that all you'll need is long periods of sleep."

Shawn rubbed his behind and Rose chuckled, "Luckily break their son."

"Oh yes," Doctor Calloway smiled, "Good news, you'll be able to participate in the wedding ceremony tomorrow, bad news, at the reception afterwards you'll only be able to drink could liquids. No solid food for about a week. It'll upset your stomach way too much, understood?"

Rose nodded, "What about school, I need a doctor's note to give to them if he's going to miss an entire week."

"I'll make sure to give you one before you leave," The doctor nodded, "Sleep all week, no solid foods, no school, no thinking, just getting better."

Rose nodded but before she could finally tell the Doctor to buzz off, her cell phone rang. Smiling at the Doctor and her son, she got up from the chair and reached into the pocket of her jeans. Seeing that it was from Jake, she picked it up, "Jake, I was just about to call you, it turns out that Shawn does have food poisoning, he's going to be in bed for the next week but he can participate in the wedding tomorrow."

"Well I know something you don't know," Jake said in a sing-song, cheery voice.

"Care to enlighten?" Rose laughed.

"Well set down for this one." Jake began with a laugh, "I'll give you hint, she's the woman that you gave birth too, she's getting married tomorrow and she's pregnant."

Rose's eyes widened and then comically, she fell backwards, unconscious.

* * *

**AN:/ (Written Post-Completion of the Epilogue) When I was about to post it, I realized that my decision to post this in three increments will leave a huge plot hole, I mean I can't skip right to the wedding when I haven't at least resolved all of these stories put into the first two posts, so they're will be four. So that means that you'll be stuck with this story (if you're following it) for a little while longer and because of one of two of my announcements, it might be a few weeks. Now my two very important announcements:**

**First a little background, I'm a Political, Historical and Economic Advisor to Politicians throughout the mid-western, south-western and the western coast of the United States, I'm on the road a lot since moved my consulting firm from just the west coast of United States. Which means that I don't stay in one place long enough to settle down somewhere. So imagine my surprise when I got an offer from the Newt Gingrich Presidential Campaign to be a Political Advisor last Monday to come on board as a Political Advisor for the Mid-Western Campaign. Granted, I'm like one of fifty, but it's still an honor to me, I love Newt Gingrich and I was ecstatic about it. So, I'll be living in Iowa for the next few months, so if updates become sparse, now you know why. **

**But I'm going to have access to all of my computers so I'll still be able to work on them in my down time. So hope for that. **

**Second announcement: I'm working on a new project for American Dragon Jake Long, brand new, not Anything and Everything or Into That Good Night (but if anyone wants me to write a one-shot for this story, I'd be more than happy too), but a new one! **

**I assuming that your thinking and looking like this right now: **_**-.-… "Another one, what could he possibly come up with next?"**_

**But I can assure you that this one will be completely different from the others, I'm changing my writing style a bit, it's going to be a trial and error experiment with this style so I could fail, in which case, you should tell me. Lord knows I've failed before in writing XD **

**But I'd like to think that I have at least a little credibility in writing in this section, enough for you to at least look at it. **

**And I'm really excited for you all to see it. **

**By the way, my plans at quitting at the end of this year for American Dragon are blow out of the water indefinitely. **

**Anyway, thank you for reading and just so you know, I love reviews, so give me one! I'll give you cookies :D! **


	37. Epilogue – Part III  Finale

**Epilogue – Part III**

Trevor had fallen perfectly into his father's shoes since he was ten years old, he had been at the top of every prestigious list, he was Valedictorian of his graduating class, he was at the top of his graduating class from College, he had two Master's Degrees in Business Administration and Economics and he did all of it with his inherit charisma. He by no means had built his success with his Father's Money. He had gotten to college and lived with all of the comforts of life with the money for sure, but in his adult life, not so much.

When he had turned sixteen, he had invested his entire savings into stocks and the savings of the son of a Billionaire were substantial. The savings themselves were made from his father's money, but he found that he had knack for stocks and by the time that he was eighteen, he had turned his $28,000 savings into $568,000. By the time he was 21, he was worth $21,000,000, his own money and that saved him from the ridicule of being called a Trust Fund Baby. Now, not even before he was thirty, he was the Chief Executive Officer of the world largest multinational conglomerate, a stock trader with an amazing aptitude with a combined income of roughly $78 Million Dollars a year. All thanks to his father and that $28,000 Dollars.

"How did the Board take the news?" Trevor asked his father as they stepped out onto the porch, "I hope that they're okay with this sudden change."

Jake snorted, "It's not sudden because I've been telling them for months that I intended to step down. My replacement was in question though. We had two candidates, you or to re-approach Maxwell to come back on."

"Who did they recommend?" Trevor asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You, although there was one vote against you," Jake snorted, "Me."

Trevor turned in astonishment to his father and raised an eyebrow, "Dad."

"Well I didn't think that you wanted to do it, and I wasn't exactly sure if you were ready to take on the job," Jake said, "But that was before I approached you this afternoon. If I could change my vote, I would, but I can't do it."

The younger man put his hands over his chest, "Do you have confidence in me to do this, I mean you voted for Maxwell and he's not even an Executive anymore, technically he's retired from running day to day operations. After the whole Donald Wilson shit, you took on a more hands on approach and you took most of his duties and gave them to yourself, so Vice Chairman is more of just a title. So tell you chose a retired guy over your own son?"

"A retired guy, who served simultaneously as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Head of Worker Relations for the entire company, Vice Chairman of the Board before I took most of the duties back and as my lacky who I sent to do my dirty work," Jake reasoned, "Son, you're very smart, you've been trained from birth to do this, but Maxwell was overqualified, but don't worry about it, I'm fully confident that you can do this and you have the job. Don't worry about the Board, I have it in my fist and it's at your disposal as long as you run the proposal by me first, okay?"

"Well I'm CEO now and I'm not giving it up," Trevor insisted.

Jake nodded and smiled, "I know that and I know that you'll do a great job."

* * *

Rose shut the door behind her as she and Shawn finally made it back into the house. She was still getting over the fact that she had fainted in the ER and the fact that she was going to be a Grandmother. It was a light, tingly feeling, something that made her just want to sit down and giggle uncontrollably. But she had to keep her poker face on to get through the rest of the evening and then she would allow that feeling to come to the surface, as soon as all the snobby socialites had all gone home.

"Go upstairs, get in bed and keep your cell phone handy if you need to get a hold of me," Rose said as she hung her coat up on the rack near the door, she had been in her dress since before taking Shawn to the ER, so they were all ready to go, she only need to know the hold up, "I'll be home in a flash."

"Ok Mom," Shawn turned to his mother and smiled at her with a certain weakness to it before turning back fully and trudging up the stairs. He was feeling exhausted, he would tell Alex congratulations when he felt better.

Rose turned and walked further into the living room, she heard a fork scraping against a plate and turned to see her youngest daughter Morgan sitting at the counter eating something. Raising an eyebrow, Rose walked into the kitchen and brought a stone cold glare down on her daughter, "I take it that you're strawberry short cake of all things is because you're-…"

"Bored," Morgan answered for her, "We are we going?"

"First of all, where is your sister?" Rose raised an eyebrow.

Morgan motioned to the stairs, "Putting finishing touches on her hair."

Rose sighed and smiled, "Okay, finish up and put that in the dish washer."

Morgan nodded and when Rose turned back to start her walk to the back porch, she turned and threw her voice. She was an expert at yelling and she knew that her soon to-be, married and currently pregnant daughter would have no trouble hearing it, "Alexandra Long, you had better get your pregnant ass down here and ready to go in ten minutes or there will be hell like no other that you've ever experienced to pay, got that you little girl!"

* * *

"I'm right in the middle of closing a deal for a $1 Billion Contract between News Corp, Viacom and Time Warner to cement their networks on our systems for the next twenty years," Trevor said as he watched the contracts finish setting up the ceremony area for tomorrow, "What do you think?"

Jake nodded with smile, "Another record we have under our belt."

"Hey Diamond Jim, Diamond Jim junior," Rose said from the doorway of the porch, "The limousine is waiting to take us the restaurant, get a move on."

"Yes Mistress Rose," Jake retorted with a smile before getting up from the chair and walked to the porch door to greet his wife with a kiss, "Don't you have something to say to our son?"

Rose turned and smiled at Trevor with a mischievous grin, "Yeah, you get to tip the driver."

Trevor laughed at his Mother as he joined them in the house.

* * *

Opening the door to the limousine for his family, Jake watched as his daughters, his wife and his eldest son piled into the back of the car. He felt bad that they were leaving Shawn here, but he was in no shape to stand a party. He had tried to instill in his kids that you had to be patient and sit through all of the ceremonial crap to get to the top, but he knew first hand that you couldn't get through something like this with food poising.

"Jake, I love the fact that you feel bad about leaving Shawn here, but we have the Bloombergs, the Gates, the Buffets and dozens of other important people waiting at the restaurant," Rose reminded her husband from inside the limousine, "You don't want to piss them off they'll make your life hell."

"I know, I know," Jake reasoned with her as he crawled into the limousine next to her, "Get used to this Alex, yap, yap, yap, do this don't do that, for the rest of your life. You'll never ever get another moments peace."

Alex crossed her legs and looked up to her father with an amused grin on her face, "Dad, I think that I'm going to be more like Mom is to you, it in the genes to boss men around, and for the men to be pliable."

Trevor raised an eyebrow, "Pliable?"

"Throw a little wink, sweet talk, threaten them," Alex smiled to herself as limousine pulled out of the Long Family Compound, "You know Mom."

"I know what you mean," Rose shrugged, "I taught them all well."

"Yes you did Mama Walton," Jake answered back compliantly.

* * *

"Ladies and Gentleman," The MC of the Wedding announced from the stage that had been set up in the restaurant, "It is my proud honor and distinct privilege to introduce to you, the future, Mr. and Mrs. Zachary Stoops!"

Jake and Rose clapped their hands as their daughter and their future son in-law walked hand and hand out onto the cleared dance floor. Everyone in that room, besides the workers that had been paid to cater and entertain and serve the guests, and Trixie and Spud, was a Millionaire, some of them were even Billionaires. Zachary worked as Head of Worker's Relations for INGB, a position that his father had once held and he was INGB's newest Board Member. The Couple's combined networth was over $600 Million, unlike Trevor, Alexandra had chosen to get her trust fund which was up the territory of nine figures and Zachary had as well. They were the spawn of the ultra-rich, but what made them different from the other members of the Ultra-Rich Society is that their parents had raised them to be humble and not to act like snobs to people with less money.

"Luckily, we only have to do this one more time with Morgan," Rose quipped to her husband as they watched the two receive congratulations."

"Oh don't tell me that you had fun planning this and that you loved me paying for it," Jake retorted with a grin.

"Oh please, $13.5 Million? That's like .00001 of your Networth," Rose snickered.

Jake turned to his wife and narrowed his eyes, "And you worried that money with spoil our kids."

"Well Trevor only saved every cent you ever gave him until he was sixteen," Rose turned and wrapped her arms around her husband's neck as the first song began. Jake reciprocated and pulled his wife closer to him by her waist and began to move to the soft music, "He was quite literally a self made Multi-Millionaire by the time he was twenty one. We taught them to value the mountains of cash that are around them, I was wrong."

Jake raised his eyebrows, "What was that?"

Rose smiled and leaned to bury her head in his chest, her muffled reply made Jake chuckle, "I'm sorry."

"I know baby," Jake chuckled, "What are the odds that Morgan will marry someone who isn't rich?"

Rose looked up with a smile, "I hope that she does, she doesn't seem like the type of person that would marry into this class of people. But the thing is that she can't really go advertising it, anyone would want to take advantage of her if she goes around telling people that _'when I turn twenty one, I've got about $400 Million Bucks coming my way'_. By that way, you've set up way too much for them in their trust funds."

"Oh, I should tell you that I beefed up Morgan and Shawn's Trust funds," Jake said, waiting for the bomb to go off.

Rose narrowed her eyes, "How much?"

"$800 Million, each," Jake answered simply.

Her eyes screwed up, "Jake, what the hell? That's a ridiculous amount of money."

"I make over that amount in a year," Jake shrugged, "But I also added the little precondition that they can't touch it until their 25 and graduated from College with at least a Bachelors Degree. I made sure that they couldn't just kill time with us until their 25 and be sitting on $1.6 Billion."

Rose smiled and ran her hands through his hair, messing it up, "Sometimes, I don't give you enough credit."

* * *

**The Next Day –**

"Who gives this woman to this man," The Officiator of the Ceremony asked from the head of the wedding alter.

Jake smiled over at his daughter and then back to the Officiator, "I do."

The officiator nodded and leaned over to kiss his daughter on the cheek before leading her over to Zach who took her by the hand. At last it was done. It had been a painful moment for fathers throughout time and Jake had just joined the club. Sighing, he made his way to his empty seat next to his wife. Grasping his wife's hand, he watched as his daughter and his new son in-law exchanged their vows. It was a hard moment for him, and he knew that it would be coming for his other daughter and to a lesser extent his two sons. Trevor had expressed that he might get married to his girlfriend, but his son did things slowly, so he wouldn't have to deal with that any time soon. Never the less, Rose would take it a little harder then he would.

But he'd be there with her, and for his children.

Until he died and even then, he support his children and be with his wife until he went off,_ Into That Good Night…_

* * *

**AN:/ YAY! It's done, finally! I was able to squeeze it down into one more portion. I had a forth one written up, but I decided to cut it down to the last scene and stick it in here. The other things were choppy and I didn't much like them, but I like how this came out. I had this idea three years ago but it ran into the ground and three years later, I decided to re-tool the plot and this is what you get.**

**Big thank you to everyone who reviewed this story! It seemed to take off fairly quickly and it made me happy to see that. There might be a few one shots to this story up my sleeve, but I don't know yet. I almost forgot, I have to say thank you to everyone who continued to read this story, even through the portions where the vocabulary belonged to a Corporate Analyst, I just had have a little realism in it. **

**And with that, good night, and good luck! **


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